Variable Focus Lens With Porous Membranes for Air Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing variable focus lens designs face difficulties in manufacturing, particularly in removing residual air from hermetically sealed chambers, and require indirect force transmission due to inaccessible actuators.
Innovation Solution
A lens design featuring a primary membrane separating two liquid-filled chambers with different refractive indices, where auxiliary membranes allow for air diffusion through a permeable or semi-permeable foil, simplifying manufacturing and enabling direct actuator displacement to change focal length.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If hermetically sealed chambers are used to separate liquids, then the lens structure is stable and gravity effects are reduced, but residual air cannot be removed from the chambers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a porous membrane material that allows gas molecules to pass through while maintaining structural integrity. The porous structure enables residual air to diffuse out of the sealed chambers during manufacturing, solving the air removal problem while preserving the hermetic seal for liquid containment and gravitational stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates air removal mechanisms and procedures during the manufacturing process before final sealing. By performing preliminary air evacuation through the porous membrane while the structure is still accessible, the design ensures complete air removal without compromising the subsequent hermetic seal.
2Ease of operation
If indirect force transmission through magnetic field is used, then the actuator does not need to be accessible, but the force transmission becomes complex and less efficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the actuator from the sealed chamber environment and positions it externally, eliminating the need for complex hermetic seals around moving parts. The actuator connects directly to the membrane through a simplified interface, allowing direct mechanical force transmission while maintaining external accessibility for operation and maintenance.
3Reliability
If multiple separate membranes are used to form chamber walls, then each chamber can be independently sealed, but the manufacturing process becomes difficult and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple membrane functions into a single integrated porous membrane structure that simultaneously forms the separation barrier between chambers and provides the air removal pathway. This merging of functions reduces the number of separate components, simplifies assembly, and accelerates manufacturing while maintaining reliable sealing through the continuous membrane structure.
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 design simplifies the manufacturing process by allowing air to escape through the membranes, reducing gravitational effects, and enables direct force transmission for focal length adjustment, making the lens easier to produce and more efficient.
Implementation Method 1
The foil is permeable or semi-permeable for gases, in particular for the gas used as environmental gas during manufacturing, such that bubbles of gas enclosed in the first or second chamber can easily diffuse through the membranes.
Implementation Method 2
An axial movement of the actuator with respect to the housing causes the primary membrane to be deformed... a mutual displacement of the actuator and the housing causes said membranes to deform, thereby changing the focal length of the lens.
Data Source
Figure 1~3
AI summary
A variable focus lens has a housing (1) and an actuator (8) which are mutually displaceable along an optical axis (A) of the lens. A primary membrane (15) is arranged between a first chamber (24, 26) and a second chamber (30, 32), with the first and second chambers being filled with liquids of similar density but different indices of refraction. First and second auxiliary membranes (19, 17) are provided for volume compensation. The first auxiliary membrane (19) forms a wall section of the first chamber (24, 26), and the second auxiliary membrane (17) forms a wall section of the second chamber (30, 32), at least one or both of the auxiliary membranes facing environmental air at its outer side.