Robotic laser tire mold cleaning system and method of use

A cleaning system (10) for removing residual material from a mold (12) having a molding surface (13), the system including a robot (14) including an arm (16) movable in a plurality of degrees of freedom, the arm having a free end (28b), a laser (18) connected with the robot and having an output end (19) mounted to the arm proximal to the free end so as to be positionable by the robot wherein the robot positions a cleaning system output end (20) with respect to the molding surface to direct radiation (18a) from the laser to impinge on the molding surface and remove residual material from the surface, the output end of the laser enclosed in a laser delivery head (32) containing one or more optical fibers (42) to deliver the laser radiation to a delivery end (44b) of the laser delivery head, the cleaning system characterized by:

• a plurality of the optical fibers extending from the output end of the laser, through the laser delivery head, to output ends (43) of the fibers located at the delivery end of the laser delivery head;
• and
• the output ends of the plurality of optical fibers being aligned and spaced apart such that the laser radiation output from the plurality of optical fibers forms a stripe (18b) of radiation on the molding surface, the system output end (20) disposed to move to the molding surface wherein the direction of movement of the stripe is parallel to the axis of the stripe of radiation.