Electric machine with a high protection class with improved rotor cooling

An electric machine, comprising:

• a stator including a stator laminate stack and having at least one first stator axial channel which is continuous when viewed in the axial direction and is completely closed when viewed in a sectional plane;
• and
• a rotor shaft mounted relative to the stator for rotation about a shaft axis which defines an axial direction, a radial direction and a tangential direction,
• a rotor arranged on the rotor shaft and interacting electrically with the stator, said rotor having at least one axially continuous rotor axial channel, wherein the stator laminate stack extends over the rotor, when viewed in the axial direction and completely surrounds the rotor, when viewed in the sectional plane orthogonal to the axial direction to define a closed rotor interior, when viewed in the sectional plane,
• covers respectively positioned axially on both sides on the stator laminate stack, at least one of the covers having a central cutout for passage of the rotor shaft, said covers being configured to form jointly with stator laminate stack radial channels respectively in the radial direction, said radial channels fluidly connecting the at least one first stator axial channel to the rotor interior, but being otherwise closed;
• and
• at least one element acting as a fan arranged on the rotor shaft axially within the covers to realize a forced convection,
• wherein the stator laminate stack has second stator axial channels which are continuous when viewed in the axial direction and fluidly separated from the rotor interior.