ROTARY ELECTRIC MACHINE, ROTARY ELECTRIC MACHINE DRIVING SYSTEM AND RAILWAY VEHICLE

Maintainability of a rotary electric machine including a cooling fan is maintained, mechanical loss and noise caused by rotation of the cooling fan are reduced, and efficiency of the rotary electric machine is further enhanced and noise reduction is achieved in the rotary electric machine at the same time. The rotary electric machine includes a stator, a rotor, a shaft as a rotating shaft of the rotor, a frame, a first bearing, a second bearing, a cooling fan, a third bearing, and a torque limiter. The first bearing and the second bearing rotatably support the shaft. The third bearing is disposed between the first bearing and the second bearing. The cooling fan is rotatably supported by the third bearing and has the same axis of rotation as that of the rotor. The torque limiter includes an inner ring fixed on the shaft and an outer ring fixed on the cooling fan. The inner ring and the outer ring are brought to an asynchronous rotation at a predetermined or larger number of revolutions.