Optical Lens Error Map Averaging After Surfacing Defect Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current optical lens manufacturing processes struggle to consistently meet optical power tolerances across different zones of a lens, leading to deviations that cannot be effectively compensated by existing manual or automated statistical analyses.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for determining the machining process signature by analyzing error maps from multiple optical lenses, identifying and removing surfacing defects, and averaging updated error maps to establish a signature that can be used to adapt the manufacturing process for subsequent lenses, ensuring closer alignment with target optical parameters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual or automated statistical analysis is performed to determine average deviation, then the manufacturing process can be compensated at a single point, but it cannot handle different deviations according to different zones of the lens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the lens into multiple zones and creates separate error maps for each zone rather than treating the lens as a single entity. This segmentation allows the system to identify and compensate for deviations specific to each zone, resolving the contradiction between adaptability to different zones and manufacturing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by generating zone-specific compensation values based on error maps that capture local deviations. Each zone receives tailored compensation rather than a uniform single-point compensation, enabling the system to address unique characteristics of different lens regions while maintaining overall manufacturing precision.
2Reliability
If error maps are averaged directly without removing surfacing defects, then the calculation is simpler, but the process signature is contaminated by anomalies and does not represent the true machining process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by detecting and removing surfacing defects from error maps before averaging them to generate the process signature. This preprocessing step ensures that the final signature reflects only the true machining process characteristics without contamination from anomalies, thereby improving reliability while managing complexity through systematic defect removal.
3Ease of manufacture
If single-point compensation is applied in the Lens Design System, then the implementation is straightforward, but it fails to account for zone-specific deviations across the lens surface
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from single-point compensation to a multi-dimensional approach by creating a map of compensation values across the entire lens surface. This dimensional expansion allows the system to account for zone-specific deviations while maintaining ease of manufacture through automated calculation and integration into the existing Lens Design System.
Data Source
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AI summary
System for determining a signature of an optical lens machining process, the system being configured to: - determine: • at least two error maps associated respectively with at least two optical lenses machined using the optical lens machining process, • at least one surfacing defect in a first of the at least two error maps, • at least one surfacing defect in a second of the at least two error maps, - remove from the first of the at least two error maps the at least one surfacing defect in the first of the at least two error maps to obtain a first updated error map, - remove from the second of the at least two error maps the at least one surfacing defect in the second of the at least two error maps to obtain a second updated error map, - determine the signature of the optical lens machining process by averaging at least the first updated error map and the second updated error map.