AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CLEANING MOULDS, BLOW MOULDS, AND ACCESSORIES USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF GLASS PACKAGING

摘要

An automated method of cleaning moulds, blow moulds, and accessories made of metal, cast-iron in particular, used in the production of glass packaging consists in removing any dirt, graphite grease in particular, from the cleaned surface by laser ablation method using a pulsed laser. First, the surface subject to cleaning is scanned with a 3D scanner (12), preferably mounted on the wrist of an industrial robot (7), to read the shape of the cleaned surface, and the obtained scan is used to automatically generate, using a specialist software, the movement paths of the laser head (6) mounted on the robot wrist (7); and/or the movement paths of the said laser head are generated based on specially -prepared input files containing the geometry of the surface subject to cleaning; moreover, the cleaning parameters such as angle, speed, and shape of the laser beam are set, following which the laser radiation beam is directed onto the surface subject to cleaning in accordance with the generated movement paths and parameters. Preferably, the cleaning process is conducted in a robotised cell (1).