Spectacle Lens Coating Mechanical Shaping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for manufacturing spectacle lenses, particularly those with complex optical surfaces, require expensive and challenging mold-making processes, limiting efficiency and cost-effectiveness in high-throughput production.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a coating on the lens substrate that is modified using mechanical means to create desired optical surfaces without the need for a mold, allowing for surface topography changes and subsequent curing to achieve the required optical powers, reducing production time and costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional mold-making processes are used to manufacture spectacle lenses with complex optical surfaces, then manufacturing precision can be achieved, but device complexity and production costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the mold from the manufacturing process entirely. Instead of using traditional molds to form the lens, the invention applies a coating to the lens substrate and modifies this coating using mechanical means (such as needles or pins) to create the desired optical surface topography. This eliminates the complex mold-making process while achieving the same manufacturing precision for complex optical surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical mold system with a mechanical modification system applied directly to the coating. Rather than using a mold to shape the lens, the invention uses mechanical means (needles, pins, or other mechanical modifiers) to directly modify the coating on the lens substrate, creating the optical surface through localized material removal or deformation.
2Manufacturing precision
If traditional mold-making processes are used for spectacle lens manufacturing, then optical surfaces can be formed, but production time and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the coating to the lens substrate in advance, before the optical surface modification step. This preliminary coating application allows the subsequent mechanical modification to proceed more quickly, as the coating is already in place and ready to be shaped. The coating serves as a pre-prepared material layer that can be rapidly modified without requiring time-consuming mold operations.
Solution Approach 2:
By removing the mold from the process, the patent eliminates the time required for mold assembly, lens insertion, and mold removal. The direct coating modification approach allows for faster production cycles while maintaining optical surface quality through precise mechanical control.
3Manufacturing precision
If expensive mold-making processes are used, then complex optical surfaces can be manufactured, but cost-effectiveness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a disposable or replaceable coating layer instead of expensive, durable molds. The coating can be applied economically to the lens substrate and then modified using relatively simple mechanical means. This approach replaces the high-cost mold-making process with a more cost-effective coating application and modification process, achieving the same manufacturing precision at lower cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes the expensive mechanical mold system with a simpler mechanical modification system acting on a coating. Rather than investing in complex mold-making equipment and processes, the invention uses more affordable mechanical means to modify the coating, reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining the ability to produce complex optical surfaces with high 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 enables the rapid and cost-effective manufacturing of spectacle lenses with complex optical surfaces by modifying the coating using mechanical means, achieving the desired optical powers and surface topography without the need for expensive mold-making, thus enhancing production efficiency and reducing time.
Implementation Method 1
modifying the coating using mechanical means to create desired optical surfaces
Implementation Method 2
subsequent curing to achieve the required optical powers
Data Source
AI summary
A method for manufacturing a spectacle lens including a lens substrate and at least one coating is disclosed. The method includes at least the following steps of providing a lens substrate comprising an uncoated or precoated front surface and an uncoated or precoated back surface, covering at least one of the surfaces of the lens substrate partially or completely with at least one coating composition, drying and/or precuring the at least one coating composition, contacting the surface of the at least one coating composition with at least one mechanical means, curing and/or hardening the at least one coating composition and obtaining a spectacle lens comprising a lens substrate and at least one coating, the surface topography of the at least one coating being modified by the at least one mechanical means.