Additive Support Piece for Optical Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aligning and housing miniature optic components is challenging due to the high precision required, with existing methods facing issues such as fragility of silicon motherboards and reliance on straight mechanical axes, which can lead to inaccurate alignment.
Innovation Solution
The use of a support piece formed through additive fabrication, where optical components are aligned and secured by engaging with grooves or channels in the support piece, allowing for precise alignment and increased rigidity without the need for separate self-aligning components or protective sleeves.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If silicon motherboards are used to mount optical components, then alignment precision can be achieved, but the structure becomes fragile and easy to break during assembly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the mounting structure and protective housing into a single integrated support piece formed by additive fabrication. This merging eliminates the need for separate silicon motherboards that are fragile, while the additive fabrication process enables precise grooves and channels for optical component alignment, thus achieving both structural strength and alignment precision simultaneously
2Ease of operation
If self-aligning components are used inside a hypodermic tube, then assembly is simplified, but alignment accuracy deteriorates due to tube waviness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical alignment system based on hypodermic tube straightness with an additive fabrication-based support piece that has precisely engineered grooves and channels. These features are directly formed with high accuracy by the additive fabrication process, eliminating dependence on mechanical tube straightness while maintaining assembly simplicity through integrated design
3Device complexity
If optical components are left unprotected during assembly, then assembly process is simplified, but the components are vulnerable to damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates protective features directly into the support piece structure during additive fabrication, such as enclosed chambers and integrated protective walls. This preliminary incorporation of protection eliminates the need for separate protective sleeves or complex assembly steps, thus simplifying the assembly process while ensuring component protection from the outset
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
This method enables accurate alignment and increased robustness of optical components, minimizing the risk of breakage and ensuring precise optical axis alignment, while allowing for complex shapes and high accuracy in component placement.
Implementation Method 1
a support piece formed through additive fabrication, in which the support piece is built up as a series of layers, each layer adhering to a previous layer
Data Source
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AI summary
An optical device with a first sub-assembly and a second sub-assembly is described. The first sub-assembly has: an input lens for collimating illuminating light, the input lens having an optical axis, an output lens for focusing collimated light received from a sample, the output lens having an optical axis which is offset and substantially parallel with the optical axis of the input lens, and a first support piece which houses and supports the input lens and the output lens. The second sub-assembly has: an input filter for filtering the collimated illuminating light, an output filter for filtering the collimated light received from the sample, and a second support piece which houses and supports the input filter and the output filter. The first and second support pieces are joined together by a liquid-tight joint. An additional optical device is described wherein a plurality of optical components is supported by a support piece, each optical component being aligned by a groove or channel in the support piece, wherein the groove or channel has a pair of side walls which each engage a respective side of an optical component, and the support piece further comprises an end stop which engages an end of the optical component. A further optical device and a method of manufacturing an optical device are also described. A support piece is grown by a process of additive fabrication in which the support piece is built up as a series of layers, each layer adhering to a previous layer, and each layer being formed in its final shape in accordance with a computer model before addition of the next layer. Two or more optical components are supported with the support piece, each optical component engaging the support piece and being aligned by the support piece relative to the other component(s).