Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) of Circular Tool Magazine and ATC

Tool magazine and automatic tool changer (ATC) are two of the most important key functional units of the tool reserving and exchanging in machining center, reliability of which directly influences that of the machining centers. Failure analysis is the basic work in reliability analysis. So far, there is little in-depth and meticulous study about failure of the tool magazine and ATC, but there are many problems in the use of tool magazine and ATC. Based on the failure data received from field tracing tests, the failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis of the studied circular tool magazine and ATC are evaluated. The failure positions, causes, and criticalities in circular tool magazine and ATC, which have the highest criticality parameters are explored, offering the basis for the improvement in the design of the new products.