Self-cooled electrical machine with integrated fan and salient pole rotor

Claim 1

A self-cooled electrical machine comprising: a frame having a plurality of inlet and outlet ports; a stator assembly within said frame, said stator assembly having a plurality of axial stator cooling passages; a rotor within said frame, said rotor including a plurality of poles with interpole spaces between said poles; a plurality of wedges each disposed within one of said interpole spaces, and each having two radially disposed legs and one circumferentially disposed surface; said radially disposed legs and said circumferentially disposed surface of each of said wedges forming an axial rotor cooling passage extending along the length of said wedge and having a plurality of apertures in said circumferentially disposed surface; said axial stator cooling passages having an opening which is in radial alignment with at least one of said apertures in each of said wedges; a plurality of radial vanes, one of said vanes being attached to one end of each of said wedge legs wherein one of said vanes extends from each end of said wedges to a point beyond said interpole space; an impeller tab attached to each end of each of said wedges said tabs propelling coolant radially as said rotor turns; and a shroud attached to each end of each of said wedges, said shrouds preventing recirculation of coolant after said coolant has been propelled by said impeller tabs.