# US 12,007,299 B2 · Reusability determination method for gear and reusability determination system for gear

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- Number: US 12,007,299 B2
- Document ID: US12007299B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/640,402
- Filed: 2020-12-17
- Published: 2022-10-13
- Granted: 2024-06-11
- Earliest claimed: 2019-12-24
- Assignees: Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Tomohisa Kanazawa; Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto; Norihito Hata; Masao Hayakawa; Susumu Meguro; Takanobu Hiroto; Yoshitaka Matsushita
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12007299B2

## CPC

- G01M 13/021: Gearings
- Y02P 10/20: Recycling
- G01M: TESTING STATIC OR DYNAMIC BALANCE OF MACHINES OR STRUCTURES; TESTING OF STRUCTURES OR APPARATUS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS

## Abstract

Provided is a reusability determination method for a gear that makes it possible to determine reusability of a gear during or after use to increase the reuse ratio. The reusability determination method for a gear of the present invention includes a step of measuring a content of retained γ phases in the gear, a step of calculating a change rate of the content of the retained γ phases, a step of measuring residual stress applied to the gear, a residual stress ratio calculation step of calculating a residual stress ratio to residual stress in an initial state of the gear, and a reusability determination step of determining whether or not the gear is reusable on the basis of results of the calculation in the retained γ phase change rate calculation step and the residual stress ratio calculation step. In the reusability determination step, it is determined that the gear is reusable where the state of the gear corresponds to a first phase P1 or a second phase P2 from among the first phase P1, the second phase P2, and a third phase P3, and it is determined that the gear is not reusable where the state of the gear corresponds to the third phase P3.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A reusability determination method for a gear during or after use, comprising:
a retained γ phase measurement step of measuring a content of retained γ phases in the gear;
a retained γ phase change rate calculation step of calculating a change rate of the content of the retained γ phases;
a residual stress measurement step of measuring residual stress applied to the gear;
a residual stress ratio calculation step of calculating a residual stress ratio to residual stress in an initial state of the gear; and
a reusability determination step of determining whether or not the gear is reusable on a basis of results of the calculation in the retained γ phase change rate calculation step and the residual stress ratio calculation step, wherein,
in the reusability determination step,
it is determined that the gear is reusable where a state of the gear corresponds to a first phase or a second phase, from among
the first phase in which a change rate of the residual stress increases as the change rate of the content of the retained γ phases decreases with reference to a state of the gear at time of start of use,
the second phase in which, after the first phase, the change rate of the residual stress increases steeply from that in the first phase as the change rate of the content of the retained γ phase decreases, and
a third phase in which, after the second phase, the change rate of the residual stress decreases intermittently with respect to that in the second phase, and
it is determined that the gear is not reusable where the state of the gear corresponds to the third phase.

### Claim 2

A reusability determination system for a gear during or after use, comprising:
a measuring apparatus including a retained γ phase measurement section that measures a content of retained γ phases in the gear and a residual stress measurement section that measures residual stress applied to the gear; and
a determination apparatus including a retained γ phase change rate calculation section that calculates a change rate of the content of the retained γ phases, a residual stress ratio calculation section that calculates a residual stress ratio to residual stress in an initial state of the gear, and a determination section that determines whether the gear is reusable or is not reusable, wherein
the determination section determines, on a basis of results of the calculation in the retained γ phase change rate calculation section and the residual stress ratio calculation section, a state of the gear corresponds to which one of a first phase, a second phase, and a third phase,
the first phase being a phase in which the change rate of the content of the retained γ phases decreases as a change rate of the residual stress increases with reference to a state of the gear at time of start of use,
the second phase being a phase in which, after the first phase, the change rate of the residual stress increases steeply from that in the first phase as the change rate of the content of the retained γ phase decreases, and
the third phase being a phase in which, after the second phase, the change rate of the residual stress decreases intermittently with respect to that in the second phase.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The reusability determination system for a gear according to claim 2, wherein the determination apparatus further includes a database in which known data relating to a correlation between the content of the retained γ phase and the residual stress are stored.