Contact Lens Package Structure for Single-Touch Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing contact lens packages face challenges in providing a consistent single-touch lens removal experience, effective solution management, and maintaining lens integrity while avoiding bacterial transfer and ecological impact, without increasing costs or requiring complex materials.
Innovation Solution
A contact lens package design with a lid cavity that drains packaging solution into the lid, a lens support that holds the lens out of solution, and a grasping member for single-touch transfer, featuring a convex orientation and minimal contact area to facilitate easy lens removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the lens is positioned convex-side up in the package, then single-touch removal is facilitated, but the lens may stick to the package due to surface tension with packaging solution
Solution Approach 1:
The package is divided into distinct functional zones: a hydrophobic zone on the lens support that repels packaging solution and prevents sticking, and a hydrophilic zone that allows controlled solution drainage. This segmentation enables the lens to be easily removed by a single touch while maintaining reliable transfer consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens support structure incorporates regions with different surface energy characteristics - hydrophobic regions that repel aqueous packaging solution and hydrophilic regions that allow controlled wetting. This parameter change in surface properties prevents the lens from sticking to the package while facilitating single-touch removal.
2Reliability
If the lens support contacts the lens over a large area, then the lens is securely held, but the lens sticks to the package making removal difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The lens support features localized hydrophobic regions that contact the lens periphery to provide secure holding, while the central region remains hydrophilic to allow solution drainage and prevent sticking. This local quality differentiation enables secure lens retention during storage while facilitating easy removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact surface between lens and support is segmented into distinct functional zones with different wettability properties, allowing simultaneous achievement of secure holding and easy removal through differentiated local interactions.
3Ease of operation
If packaging solution is completely drained from the lens, then single-touch transfer is enabled, but the lens may become dehydrated
Solution Approach 1:
The package design preliminarily drains excess packaging solution from the lens surface through controlled drainage channels before the user opens the package, preparing the lens for single-touch transfer while maintaining sufficient hydration through the hydrophilic retention zones that hold just enough solution.
Solution Approach 2:
The system controls the volume and distribution of packaging solution through parameter changes in the hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance, maintaining optimal hydration levels that enable both single-touch transfer and lens integrity.
4Stability of the object's composition
If the package uses traditional concave orientation, then the lens is stable in storage, but multiple touches are needed for proper lens orientation and insertion
Solution Approach 1:
The package inverts the traditional lens orientation by positioning the lens convex-side up instead of concave-side up. This inversion maintains storage stability through the hydrophobic support structure while eliminating the need for manual reorientation, reducing preparation time and enabling single-touch transfer.
5Ease of manufacture
If the package structure is simplified to reduce cost, then manufacturing cost decreases, but the ability to provide controlled solution drainage and lens support is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The lens support structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides mechanical support for the lens, creates hydrophobic zones to prevent sticking, establishes drainage channels for solution control, and maintains lens orientation. This multi-functionality achieves complex performance with a relatively simple structure, reducing manufacturing cost.
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
Enables consistent single-touch lens transfer with high success rates, maintains lens integrity, and reduces ecological impact while ensuring sterility and intuitive opening.
Implementation Method 1
the package is configured such that upon opening the package by a wearer the packaging solution drains away from the contact lens
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to improved contact lens packages. The package may be configured such that upon opening the package by a wearer the packaging solution drains away from the contact lens and is substantially recaptured in the lid. Lens packages also may include a lens support that facilitates single touch transfer or a colored region that visually indicates to a wearer where to hold the package for opening.