Abstract:
A method and system for enhanced demolding of injection molded optical devices are disclosed. In one embodiment the system includes a metal moldplate without a coat of release layer and a curing device that generates high intensity pulses of UV light. The method includes: providing a moldplate made of a predetermined moldplate material; directly injecting optical material into cavities of a moldplate without a release layer; rapidly curing the injected optical material with high intensity pulses of UV light such that a predetermined optical device is formed; and separating the thus formed optical device from the cavities of the moldplate due to a differential thermal expansion between the optical device material and the moldplate material.
Abstract:
A method of manufacturing a prescription lens, for eyeglasses on site by compression molding, in a pair of upper and lower molds having a mold surfaces from a thermoplastic preformed lens blank having opposite surfaces and a periphery, comprising the steps of: preheating a preform blank at a first temperature and preheating the upper and lower molds to a second higher temperature; positioning the preheated preform between the upper and lower preheated molds such that the preform makes a single point or line contact with each of the mold surfaces; initially compressing the preformed at a first fixed rate of speed regardless of pressure exerted on the preform, with the preform being compressed to about 4 mm of a predetermined lens thickness desired for the prescription lens; finally compressing the preform to a substantially finished prescription lens at a second fixed rate of speed substantially higher than the first fixed rate of speed regardless of pressure exerted on the preform while substantially maintaining the predetermined temperature, and shutting off the heating to the molds, and stopping travel of the molds with respect to each other upon reaching the predetermined lens thickness; and cooling the molds to another, but lower predetermined temperature; and thereafter opening the molds so as to remove the finished prescription lens.
Abstract:
The present invention includes without limitation a process for separating a hydrogel contact lens from at least one mold half selected from the group comprising the anterior half and the posterior half of a contact lens. The process comprising the step of contacting either the contact lens or the one half with a maximum of about 1000 μl of a super-cooled fluid to create a temperature differential between the contact lens and the one half.
Abstract:
An apparatus and method for assembling a lens-forming structure, the structure having a front mold, a rear mold, and a gasket defining an axially extending bore, including a collet for supporting the gasket so that at least one of the front mold or the rear mold are insertable into the bore thereof, a robotic arm for inserting the front mold into the bore of the gasket, and a piston for inserting the rear mold into the bore of the gasket. The piston axially moves within the bore of the gasket a selected one of the front mold or the rear mold relative to the other mold to a desired one of a plurality of axial separation distances between the molds. Alternatively, the robotic arm can move the selected mold relative to the other mold.
Abstract:
A gasket defining an axially extending bore therethrough, a front mold having a an edge circumscribing the front mold, wherein the edge is of a size to be complementarily received within at least a portion of the bore of the gasket so that the edge and the bore form a seal therebetween, and a rear mold having a rim circumscribing the rear mold, wherein the rim is sized to be complementarily received within at least a portion of the bore so that the rim and the bore form a seal therebetween. When the front mold and the rear mold are both disposed within the bore of the gasket, a volume is formed between the back surface of the front mold and the front surface of the rear mold and the interior surface of the gasket. A selected one of the front mold or the rear mold is axially and slidably movable within the bore relative to the other mold disposed within the bore to a desired one of a plurality of axial separation distances between the molds, whereby the volume is different for each separation distance. The different volumes correspond to different lens powers, so that the gasket of the present invention can form different lenses.
Abstract:
A method for forming a preform mass of thermoplastic material into a lens without the formation of air bubbles or the entrapment of air pockets in the finished lens includes softening the preform mass under a predetermined pressure and temperature and continuing to apply the predetermined pressure while increasing the temperature until the mass has been compressed between two molds into the shape of the lens.
Abstract:
The present invention, in one embodiment, is a process for extracting pre-polymer from a polymer lens. The process of one embodiment comprises the step of contacting the ophthalmic lens with a super-cooled solvent for a period of time sufficient to extract pre-polymer from the polymer lens.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for removing a polymeric contact lens from a mold comprising lowering the temperature of the contact lens with a cryogenic material, such as liquid nitrogen, to a temperature and for a time sufficient for the lens to release from the mold without the application of external forces.