Alternator

An alternator comprising:

• a case;
• a rotor disposed inside said case, north-seeking and south-seeking poles being formed alternately around a rotational circumference of said rotor;
• and
• a stator having a stator core surrounding said rotor, and a polyphase stator winding installed in said stator core,
• a number of slots extending in an axial direction being formed in said stator core at a predetermined pitch in a circumferential direction,
• said polyphase stator winding including at least one phase of stator winding portion constructed such that wire forms coil ends which bend back outside said slots at end surfaces of said stator core, and alternates between inner layers and outer layers in a slot depth direction within said slots at intervals of a predetermined number of said slots,
• said wire being composed of a number of conductor segments each having:
• two straight portions, each being housed within a different slot amount said slots;
• a U-shaped connection portion connecting said straight portions, said connection portion protruding from a first end portion of said stator core;
• and
• joining portions disposed on end portions of each of said straight portions, said joining portions protruding from a second end portion of said stator core,
• said stator winding portion being constructed by connecting adjacent joining portions of said conductor segments to each other,
• pairs of said conductor segments inserted from an end surface of said stator core into pair of slots separated by a predetermined number of slots being arranged such that connecting portions of said pairs of conductor segments are substantially parallel to each other and do not overlap with each other when said stator is viewed along said axial direction.