Lens Assembly Fabrication via Curable Polymer Shaping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for fabricating lens assemblies for mobile and wearable devices lack a systematic approach to align optical elements during fabrication, making integration into these devices inefficient and potentially affecting image quality.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a tube where a curable optical polymer is shaped by plungers with specific curvatures, cured with radiant energy, and aligned coaxially to form a single lens assembly that can be easily integrated into devices like head-mounted displays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If optical elements are fabricated separately and then assembled, then flexibility in designing individual elements is improved, but alignment precision and integration efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple optical elements and the lens assembly housing into a single integrated structure fabricated within one mold cavity. This merging approach ensures that all optical elements are pre-aligned during fabrication, eliminating subsequent assembly alignment steps and achieving high precision without sacrificing design flexibility for individual elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical elements are pre-formed and pre-aligned within the mold cavity before the lens assembly housing is completed. This preliminary action of shaping and positioning optical elements during the fabrication process ensures precise alignment is achieved early, eliminating the need for complex post-assembly alignment operations.
2Reliability
If multiple optical elements are assembled into a lens assembly, then image quality is improved, but device complexity and fabrication difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple optical elements directly into the lens assembly housing structure, combining what would traditionally be separate assembly steps into a single fabrication process. This reduces device complexity while maintaining the multi-element configuration needed for high image quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens assembly housing serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, defines the optical path, and contains the optical elements during fabrication. This multi-functionality simplifies the overall device structure and reduces fabrication complexity while enabling high-quality image formation through multiple optical elements.
3Manufacturing precision
If optical elements are precisely aligned during fabrication, then manufacturing precision is improved, but fabrication process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the alignment process with the fabrication process itself, where the mold cavity structure inherently defines and maintains precise alignment of optical elements. This eliminates the need for separate alignment operations and complex alignment mechanisms, achieving high precision without increasing fabrication complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold cavity acts as an intermediary structure that automatically ensures precise alignment of optical elements during fabrication. The mold's precisely engineered features guide and position optical elements correctly without requiring complex active alignment systems, simplifying the fabrication process while maintaining high manufacturing 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
This method allows for precise alignment and integration of optical elements within a lens assembly, enhancing image quality and miniaturization, while simplifying the fabrication process for mobile and wearable devices.
Implementation Method 1
The plunger has a lensing curvature which causes the optical polymer adjacent to the plunger to take on a shape defined by the curvature
Implementation Method 2
Radiant energy is applied to the tube and polymer from the outside of the tube. The radiated energy passes into the tube and cures the polymer
Data Source
AI summary
A lens assembly includes a tube in which optical elements such as lenses or micro-lenses are individually fabricated by dispensing a volume of curable optical polymer into the tube, forming the desired shape for the optical element using one or more plungers having heads corresponding to a desired lensing curvature, applying radiant energy to the tube with the plungers in place to cure the optical polymer, and repeating as needed until the desired number of optical elements are fabricated within the lens assembly which may then be integrated as a single piece into a mobile or wearable device.