Stacked Lens Plate Assembly for Compact Optical Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing lens manufacturing processes, particularly for high-energy electromagnetic radiation lenses like X-rays, suffer from optical aberrations due to material behavior variations, mold precision limitations, and uneven force application, leading to distortions and blurring, and conventional lens assemblies are bulky and complex, hindering compact design solutions.
Innovation Solution
A lens assembly comprising a plurality of lens units with directly stacked lens plates and a lens unit holder, ensuring precise alignment along a common optical axis, allowing for modular and compact integration with legacy systems, and incorporating corrective lenses for aberration correction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional stamping or molding process is used to manufacture lenses, then manufacturing efficiency is improved, but optical precision deteriorates due to material behavior variations, mold precision limitations, and uneven force application
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical stamping/molding process with a laser-based manufacturing process. The laser beam precisely removes material from the lens blank to create the desired lens shape, eliminating the need for physical molds and avoiding the mechanical forces that cause distortion in traditional processes. This substitution of mechanical manufacturing with laser processing resolves the contradiction by maintaining high manufacturing efficiency while dramatically improving optical precision.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple individual lens mounts are provided for each lens element, then alignment flexibility is improved, but device complexity and installation space increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual lens mounts into a single integrated lens unit holder that accommodates the entire stack of lens plates. This unified holder structure maintains alignment flexibility through precise mechanical features while dramatically reducing the number of separate components, simplifying the overall assembly and reducing installation space compared to using individual mounts for each lens element.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens unit holder is designed as a universal component that can accommodate various configurations of lens plates within a single standardized interface. This multi-functional holder provides alignment and support for multiple lens elements simultaneously, reducing system complexity while maintaining the adaptability needed for different optical configurations.
3Volume of moving object
If lens plates are stacked directly onto each other, then installation space is minimized, but alignment precision may deteriorate without proper holding structures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple lens plates into a compact stacked arrangement held within a single lens unit holder. This integration maintains minimal installation space while the holder provides the necessary alignment precision through its mechanical design features, resolving the contradiction between compactness and alignment accuracy.
Data Source
Figure 1~2b
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Figure 5a~6
AI summary
The present invention relates to a lens assembly (51) comprising a plurality of lens units (1), wherein each lens unit (1) comprises a plurality of lens plates (5) being stacked directly onto each other to form a lens plate stack (3); and a lens unit holder (15) being configured to hold the lens plate stack (3); wherein each lens plate (5) comprises a first lens (7), the first lens (7) comprising a first optical axis (9); and wherein the first optical axis (9) of each first lens (7) is arranged along a first common optical axis (49) wherein the plurality of lens units (1) are arranged such that the first common optical axes (49) of the plurality of lens units (1) are coincident. The present invention further relates to a lens unit holder (15) for a lens assembly, as herein described, (51) being configured to hold a plurality of lens plates (5) and a method (100) for providing a lens unit (1) for a lens assembly (51) as herein described.