Adaptive Polishing Tool for Spectacle Lens Surfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional polishing tools for spherical, toric, and free-form spectacle lenses face challenges in achieving high dimensional accuracy and efficiency due to uneven pressure distribution and reduced efficiency caused by the need for smaller tool diameters to accommodate varying lens geometries, leading to shape defects and reduced processing speed.
Innovation Solution
A ring-shaped adaptive polishing tool with a rigid support, an elastic body, and a polishing pad featuring a closed ring toric section, allowing for precise adaptation to the lens surface and homogeneous pressure distribution, enabling efficient polishing of a wide range of free-form surfaces with high accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a spherical polishing tool with an elastic layer is used to adapt to spectacle lens surfaces, then the tool can conform to varying lens geometries, but the pressure distribution becomes non-uniform causing shape defects
Solution Approach 1:
The polishing tool is segmented into a rigid support structure and a separate elastic body, allowing the elastic portion to conform to the lens surface while the rigid support maintains structural integrity and enables controlled pressure application
Solution Approach 2:
The polishing tool uses a composite structure combining rigid support material and elastic body material, where each material performs its specialized function - the rigid part provides stability and the elastic part provides conformability, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and precision
2Manufacturing precision
If a smaller tool diameter is used to polish aspheric surfaces, then shape defects are reduced, but the polishing efficiency decreases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The elastic body is designed with non-uniform thickness, being thinner at the edges and thicker in the center, which creates localized pressure distribution that maintains dimensional accuracy across the entire polishing surface without requiring a smaller tool diameter
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic body's thickness parameter is varied across its surface area, with the thickness transitioning from edge to center, which allows the tool to maintain both large diameter for efficiency and uniform pressure for precision simultaneously
3Productivity
If a toric polishing body is used to polish aspheric surfaces quickly, then polishing efficiency improves, but the pressure distribution remains non-uniform causing shape defects
Solution Approach 1:
The combination of rigid support and elastic body with variable thickness creates a composite polishing tool that maintains the large contact area needed for efficiency while the elastic layer's thickness gradient ensures uniform pressure distribution for precision
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution allows for high-accuracy and high-efficiency polishing of free-form spectacle lens surfaces by ensuring consistent pressure distribution and adapting to varying geometries, reducing the need for multiple tools and improving overall processing speed and quality.
Implementation Method 1
The elasticity of the elastic body enables the polishing surface to be adapted to the surface contour of the surface to be polished and thus a surface polishing removal which, according to the teaching of DE 44 12 370 A1, is precisely not desired.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a polishing tool (100) for surfaces of spectacle lenses and casting mould shells for spectacle lenses with a polishing lip (118) which comprises a rigid support (110) and has a polishing face (120), which has at least one uninterruptedly annular toric portion. It is provided according to the invention that an elastic body (114) and a polishing covering (116) are arranged on the rigid support (110). The invention also relates to a method and a device for polishing surfaces of spectacle lenses and to casting mould shells for spectacle lenses with such a tool.