Contact Lens Package Venting for Single-Touch Lens Transfer
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing contact lens packages face challenges in providing a consistent one-touch transfer of lenses from the package to the wearer's finger and onto the eye, while maintaining lens integrity, hydration, and adhering to industry standards, without increasing costs or ecological impact.
Innovation Solution
A contact lens package design featuring a lens support that maintains the lens in a convex position, with minimal wetted contact area, and includes air entry guides to facilitate solution drainage, allowing the lens to adhere to the finger upon opening, enabling one-touch transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the lens support provides substantial contact area with the lens, then the lens is well-supported during storage, but the lens adheres too strongly to the support and cannot be easily transferred to the finger
Solution Approach 1:
The lens support structure provides different contact characteristics at different locations: peripheral supports extend beyond the lens edge to provide stable support during storage, while the central contact area is minimized to allow easy lens transfer to the finger. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between support stability and transfer ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens support is divided into multiple discrete peripheral supports rather than a continuous surface. This segmentation allows the lens to be held securely at the periphery during storage while leaving the central area accessible for finger contact and transfer, thus resolving the contradiction between support stability and transfer ease.
2Reliability
If packaging solution is retained in the package, then the lens remains hydrated during storage, but the solution interferes with lens adhesion to the finger during transfer
Solution Approach 1:
The package design incorporates features that automatically drain the packaging solution from the lens and support area upon opening, before the user attempts to transfer the lens. This preliminary drainage action ensures the lens is ready for consistent finger adhesion while having maintained hydration during storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging solution is extracted or removed from the critical lens-contact area through drainage channels and hydrophobic barriers upon package opening. This extraction allows the lens to transition from a hydrated stored state to a dry transfer-ready state, resolving the contradiction between hydration maintenance and transfer consistency.
3Ease of operation
If the lens is allowed to move freely in the package, then the lens can be easily accessed, but the lens may invert or become misoriented
Solution Approach 1:
The lens support structure and package geometry are designed with asymmetric features that provide stable resting positions for the lens in the correct orientation. The peripheral supports and drainage channels are positioned to naturally guide and maintain lens orientation, preventing inversion while allowing easy access.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens support acts as an intermediary structure between the lens and the package environment. It provides controlled contact points that maintain lens orientation and prevent inversion, while still allowing the lens to be easily accessed and transferred when needed.
4Reliability
If multiple fingers are used to manipulate the lens, then the lens can be positioned and oriented, but the risk of contamination and dropping increases
Solution Approach 1:
The package design extracts or removes the need for multi-finger manipulation by providing a lens transfer mechanism that works with a single finger touch. The lens is positioned and oriented passively by the package structure, eliminating the harmful effects of additional finger contact while maintaining positioning accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens package is designed to perform the positioning and orientation functions automatically through its structure (peripheral supports, drainage channels, air entry guides). The lens self-orients and prepares for transfer without requiring active manipulation by the user's fingers, thus reducing contamination risk while maintaining positioning accuracy.
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
The package achieves a consistent transfer rate of at least 70% with lenses adhering to the finger without inverting or falling off, while maintaining lens integrity and hydration, and adhering to industry standards without additional costs or ecological harm.
Implementation Method 1
The air entry guides are configured such that upon opening the package the air entering the package reduces the suction force between the contact lens and the package lid
Implementation Method 2
wetted contact between the support and the lens is less than about 20 mm², less than 18 mm² or less than 15 mm²
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to contact lens packages which allow the lens to be removed from the lens package with a single touch. The lenses packages comprise a lens support which holds the lens in a convex position. When the package is drained there is less contact area between the support and wetted contact lens than between the user's finger and the contact lens, providing the desired one touch transfer.