Micro-Textured Sealing Zone for Hermetic Contact Lens Packaging
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current ophthalmic lens packaging systems often fail to form a hermetic seal, leading to leakage and contamination risks due to small water beads splashing onto the sealing area, which is difficult to detect and results in costly re-sorting and manual checking processes.
Innovation Solution
A plastic container with a micro-texture pattern on the sealing zone is used, allowing a flat seal plate to apply heat and pressure, displacing moisture and improving contact between the cover and bowl for a proper hermetic heat seal, even with splashed water droplets present.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a flat seal plate is used to create a heat seal between the laminate foil and plastic container, then the sealing process is simple, but the seal quality deteriorates when water beads are present on the sealing area
Solution Approach 1:
The seal plate incorporates a micro-textured pattern specifically in the sealing zone, creating local surface irregularities that disrupt water bead formation. This localized modification allows the seal plate to maintain simple overall structure while improving seal quality in the critical sealing area by preventing water beads from forming continuous leakage paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The micro-textured pattern on the seal plate converts the harmful effect of water beads into a beneficial outcome. The surface texture disrupts water bead continuity, transforming potential leakage points into controlled surface features that actually enhance sealing by preventing capillary action and water bead coalescence.
2Device complexity
If traditional sealing methods are used without micro-texture pattern, then the manufacturing process is simpler, but seal leakage and contamination risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The micro-textured pattern is applied only to the sealing zone of the seal plate, leaving the rest of the seal plate structure simple and unchanged. This localized approach adds sealing functionality where needed without complicating the overall device structure or manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces reliance on purely mechanical sealing pressure with a surface physics-based approach. The micro-textured pattern utilizes surface tension and capillary effects to prevent water bead formation, substituting mechanical pressure alone with a combination of surface geometry and fluid physics for more reliable sealing.
3Reliability
If extensive re-sorting and manual checking are performed to detect seal defects, then seal quality improves, but productivity decreases and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The micro-textured seal plate pattern is applied to all seal plates before the packaging process begins. This preliminary modification ensures that seal leakage is prevented at the source, eliminating the need for subsequent re-sorting and manual checking of sealed packages, thereby maintaining high productivity while ensuring seal quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The micro-textured seal plate structure provides self-sealing functionality that automatically prevents water bead formation and seal leakage without requiring additional inspection or re-sorting operations. The sealing quality is built into the seal plate itself, eliminating the need for extensive post-manufacturing verification.
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 solution significantly reduces seal leakage and dehydration issues, enhancing the quality and safety of contact lenses by ensuring a consistent, hermetic seal without the need for extensive re-sorting or manual checks, thereby minimizing waste and costs.
Implementation Method 1
One method of hermetically sealing the laminate foil to the plastic container utilizes a heating element, or heated seal plate, to create a heat seal between the foil and the area surrounding the plastic container
Implementation Method 2
a heat seal is formed where the seal plate engages and applies pressure and heat against the laminate foil/plastic container
Implementation Method 3
A plastic container with a micro-texture pattern on the sealing zone is used, allowing a flat seal plate to apply heat and pressure, displacing moisture and improving contact between the cover and bowl for a proper hermetic heat seal
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A plastic container (B) for storing a hydrogel contact lens (L) in a liquid (S), the container (B) comprising: a cavity (C) and a substantially flat flange (1) that extends in a plane around the opening periphery of the cavity (C), and the flange (1) having a sealing area (2) round the circumference of the cavity (C). Furthermore, the sealing area (2) has a micro-texture pattern (20D). When sealing the container (C) with a flexible cover sheet (D) which is a laminate material having a metal foil layer and at least one polymer layer to form a storage package of the soft contact lens (L), the micro-texture pattern (20D) of the sealing area (2) engages a laminate foil cover (D) and displaces water beads present between the laminate foil cover (D) and the plastic container (B) in the sealing area (2) around the cavity (C) to form a heat seal.