KR101217976B1 - Contact lens manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for manufacturing a contact lens is disclosed. The disclosed contact lens manufacturing apparatus includes a main body; A mold rotating unit installed in the main body and stacking a plurality of molds containing a liquid lens material and rotating them all at once to mold the liquid lens material into a lens shape by centrifugal force; An ultraviolet lamp module installed in the main body so as to be close to the mold rotating unit and emitting ultraviolet rays to the lens material contained in the molds; And a nitrogen supply line connected to the mold rotating unit and supplying nitrogen to the mold rotating unit so that the lens material contained in the plurality of molds does not come into contact with air.

Description

Contact lens manufacturing equipment {CONTACT LENS MANUFACTURING EQUIPMENT}

The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a contact lens, and more particularly, to an apparatus for manufacturing a contact lens using spincasting.

In general, contact lens manufacturing methods include lathe cutting, spincasting, combination of lathe, and cast molding.

In the rotation casting method, a mold is installed in a motor, a liquid lens material is placed in a mold, and then the motor is rotated to form a liquid lens material in a lens form using centrifugal force. This method requires precise control of the motor speed and no vibration since the rotational force of the motor determines the lens power. The rotary casting method is more economical than the lathe cutting method, the section casting method, etc., and the initial investment has the advantage of being cheaper than the fixed casting method.

A contact lens manufacturing apparatus using such a rotation casting method is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0459500.

However, since the conventional contact lens manufacturing apparatus was a method of repeatedly producing one lens by rotating one mold in one rotation process, there was a problem in that the structure of the device itself was complicated as well as the productivity was limited. .

The present invention has been made to solve the conventional problems as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a contact lens manufacturing apparatus capable of producing a plurality of contact lenses in a single process by rotating a plurality of molds by the rotation of a motor. .

In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a contact lens manufacturing apparatus having a simple structure so that a plurality of molds can be more easily mounted and rotated at once.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a contact lens manufacturing apparatus capable of stably producing a plurality of lenses produced in a plurality of molds by easily injecting nitrogen into a lens material contained in a plurality of mounted molds.

The contact lens manufacturing apparatus of the present invention to achieve the above object is a main body; A mold rotating unit installed in the main body and stacking a plurality of molds containing a liquid lens material and rotating them all at once to mold the liquid lens material into a lens shape by centrifugal force; An ultraviolet lamp module installed in the main body so as to be close to the mold rotating unit and emitting ultraviolet rays to the lens material contained in the molds; And a nitrogen supply line connected to the mold rotating unit and supplying nitrogen to the mold rotating unit so that the lens material contained in the plurality of molds does not come into contact with air.

The main body, the lower plate is supported on the ground; An upper plate disposed at an upper portion of the lower plate and provided with an upper surface of the mold rotating unit and the ultraviolet lamp module; And, it may be configured to include a vertical support frame connecting the lower plate and the upper plate.

The mold rotation unit is fixed to the main body, the first hollow portion is formed in the center, the nitrogen inlet port is connected to the nitrogen supply line on one side of the outer peripheral surface and the nitrogen outlet port is supplied to the nitrogen inlet on the upper surface Lower fixing plate is formed; An upper fixing plate spaced apart from the upper portion of the lower fixing plate and having a second hollow portion formed at the center thereof and having a cover for selectively covering the second hollow portion; A plurality of supports connecting the lower fixed plate and the upper fixed plate; A transparent tube which is formed in a cylindrical shape and connects the lower fixing plate and the upper fixing plate so as to be disposed inside the plurality of supports, the nitrogen outlet being disposed in an inner region; A mold mounting / rotating member disposed inside the transparent tube and rotatably supported by the first hollow portion and the second hollow portion, and stacking the plurality of molds in a lengthwise direction inside; And a drive member installed in the main body to rotate the mold seating / rotating member.

The mold seating / rotating member may include: a lower rotating plate rotatably supported by the first hollow portion and having a first through hole formed in the center thereof; rotatably supported by the second hollow portion and having a second through hole formed in the center thereof. Swivel plate; And at least three mold supports connecting the lower rotating plate and the upper rotating plate to be spaced apart from each other evenly on a virtual circumference, wherein the plurality of molds are inserted into and stacked by an interference fit therein. .

The at least three mold supports may be three, and may be inserted through the second through hole to be sequentially stacked on the mold supports in the vertical direction from the upper end of the lower rotating plate.

Each of the plurality of molds is formed in a disk shape, the upper surface is formed with a molding groove having a circular concave shape to accommodate the liquid lens material, the lower surface of the groove-shaped nitrogen connection connecting the center to the outer peripheral surface The flow path can be configured.

On the nitrogen supply line may be installed a flow control valve for adjusting the flow rate of nitrogen supplied.

The driving member, the flow control valve, the ultraviolet lamp module may be configured to further include a control panel installed in the main body to control the operation.

According to the above, by stacking a plurality of molds and rotating them at once, a plurality of lenses can be molded in one rotation process, thereby improving lens productivity, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of the lens.

In particular, the mold seating / rotating member is composed of at least three mold supports spaced apart from each other, and the plurality of molds are stacked between the at least three mold supports by force-fitting, thereby simplifying the structure by rotating the plurality of molds at once. In addition, since the ultraviolet rays emitted from the ultraviolet lamp can reach the lens material contained in the molding grooves of the plurality of molds more easily.

In addition, since a nitrogen connection channel is formed on each lower surface of the plurality of molds, the lens material contained in the molding groove is easily filled in the molding groove through the nitrogen connection channel formed on each of the plurality of molds in which nitrogen filled in the transparent tube is stacked. Can be prevented from contacting the air.

1 is a perspective view showing a contact lens manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 2 is a lateral cross-sectional view showing an enlarged mold rotation unit of Figure 1,
Figure 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing an enlarged mold rotation unit of Figure 1,
4 is an enlarged perspective view of the mold of FIG. 1;
5 is an enlarged perspective view showing the mold of 4 upside down.

Hereinafter, a contact lens manufacturing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

The apparatus for manufacturing a contact lens 1 includes a main body 10, a mold rotating unit 100, a nitrogen supply line 20, an ultraviolet lamp module 30, and a control panel 40.

The main body 10 includes a lower plate 11, an upper plate 13, and a vertical support frame 15.

The lower plate 11 and the upper plate 13 are formed in the shape of a square plate having the same size, the lower plate 11 is supported on the ground, the upper plate 13 is spaced apart from the upper portion of the lower plate 11 Is placed. The vertical support frame 15 is formed in a rod shape, and is coupled to connect corner portions of the lower plate 11 and the upper plate 13 to each other.

The mold rotating unit 100 includes a mold 101, a lower fixing plate 110, an upper fixing plate 120, a support 130, a transparent tube 140, a mold seating / rotating member 150, and a driving member 160. Include.

4 and 5, the mold 101 is formed of a transparent plastic material, is formed in a circular plate shape, the forming groove 102 having a circular concave shape having a predetermined diameter on the top is formed. The liquid lens material is injected into the molding groove 102 as a monomer, and the liquid lens material is molded into a lens shape by centrifugal force by the rotation of the mold 101.

In addition, a nitrogen connection flow path 105 is formed in the lower surface of the mold 101 with a groove formed from the center to the outer peripheral surface side end. Mold 101 is made of a plurality, is stacked on the mold seating / rotating member 150 in the vertical direction is rotated at once. At this time, when the plurality of molds 101 are stacked, the outside of the mold 101 and the recess 102 are communicated by the nitrogen connection passage 105.

The lower fixing plate 110 is formed in a circular plate shape and is fixedly installed on the upper surface of the upper plate 13. A first hollow portion 111 is formed in the center of the lower fixing plate 110, and in this case, the upper plate 13 is formed with a rotation shaft passage hole 14 to coincide with the center of the first hollow portion 111. In addition, the lower fixing plate 110 is formed with a nitrogen inlet 113 on one side of the outer circumferential surface, a nitrogen outlet 114 is formed on one side of the upper surface, and a nitrogen input port connecting the nitrogen inlet 113 and the nitrogen outlet 114 to the inside thereof. The flow path 115 is formed. At this time, the nitrogen outlet 114 is formed inside the transparent tube 140 to be described later.

The upper fixing plate 120 is formed in a circular plate shape, and is disposed on the upper portion of the lower fixing plate 110 at predetermined intervals. A second hollow portion 121 is formed at the center of the upper fixing plate 120, and the upper fixing plate 120 is coupled to the second hollow portion 121 of the upper fixing plate 120 in a detachable interference manner. A cover 125 covering the hollow portion 121 is provided.

The support 130 is formed in a circular rod shape, and is fixed to the upper surface of the lower fixing plate 110 and the lower surface of the upper fixing plate 120 to connect the lower fixing plate 110 and the upper fixing plate 120 spaced apart from each other. In this embodiment, the support 130 is to be composed of three, but may be three or more.

The transparent tube 140 is made of a transparent glass material and is formed in a cylindrical shape. The transparent tube 140 is fixed to the upper and lower surfaces of the upper fixing plate 110 and the lower fixing plate 120, respectively, so that the upper and lower ends of the transparent tube 140 are disposed inside the three supports 130. At this time, the central axis of the transparent tube 140 is the same as the implicit in the first hollow portion 111 and the second hollow portion 121, the diameter of the transparent tube 140 is the first hollow portion 111 and the second hollow portion. It is comprised so that it may be larger than the diameter of 121.

The mold seating / rotating member 150 is installed inside the transparent tube 140 and is configured to simultaneously rotate the plurality of molds 101 by laminating the vertical direction in the vertical direction.

To this end, it includes a lower rotary plate 151, an upper rotary plate 154, and a mold support 157.

The lower rotating plate 151 is formed in a disc shape, rotatably supported by the first hollow part 111, and a first through hole 152 is formed in the center thereof.

The upper rotating plate 154 is formed in a disc shape, rotatably supported by the second hollow part 121, and a second through hole 155 is formed at the center thereof. At this time, the bearing B is installed between the upper rotating plate 154 and the second hollow portion 121 so that the rotation of the upper rotating plate 154 is easy. Although not shown, a bearing (not shown) may be installed between the lower rotating plate 151 and the second hollow part 111 to facilitate the rotation of the lower rotating plate 151.

The mold support 157 is formed in a circular rod shape and is installed to connect the lower rotating plate 151 and the upper rotating plate 154. Specifically, both ends of the mold support 157 are fixed to the upper edge of the lower rotating plate 151 and the lower edge of the upper rotating plate 154.

In this embodiment, the mold support 157 is composed of three, each mold support 157 is evenly spaced apart from each other on the virtual circumference. At this time, a space in which the mold 101 can be inserted by interference fit is formed between the three mold supports 157.

In the above-described configuration, the mold seating / rotating member 150 has a plurality of molds 101 inserted through the opened second hollow part 121 and the second through hole 155 as shown in FIG. 2. The support 157 may be stacked in the vertical length direction, and in accordance with the rotation of the lower rotating plate 151, the mold support 157 and the upper rotating plate 154 rotate in cooperation with the mold support 157. A number of stacked molds 101 supported by interference are rotated together.

In addition, when the molding is completed, the plurality of molds 101 stacked on the mold support 157 is pushed up the mold 101 of the bottom end 101 with a stick through the first through hole 152, thereby stacking the plurality of molds 101. From the mold 101 of the uppermost of the mold 101 of the through the second through hole 155 may be sequentially taken out.

The driving member 160 is for rotating the mold seating / rotating member 150 and is made of a servo motor. In this embodiment, the driving member 160 is installed on the lower portion of the upper plate 13 by the bracket (K), the rotational force of the driving member 160 is transmitted to the lower fixing plate 110 by the power transmission means 165. do.

The power transmission means 165 penetrates through the rotary shaft passage hole 143 formed in the upper plate 13 and is coupled to the lower end of the lower fixing plate 110 by the power transmission rotation shaft 165, and the power transmission rotation shaft 165. It is composed of a belt 167 connecting the rotating shaft of the drive member (160).

However, in this embodiment, the power transmission means 165 is composed of a rotating shaft 165 and the belt 167, but may be composed of other power transmission means chain, gear, and the like.

The nitrogen supply line 20 is installed to be connected to the nitrogen inlet 113 formed on the outer circumferential surface of the lower fixing plate 110 to supply nitrogen to the inside of the transparent tube 140. Nitrogen serves to block the lens material from contacting air while the mold 101 rotates to form the liquid lens material in the form of a lens.

Although the present invention is not shown, the nitrogen supply line 20 is configured to be connected to a nitrogen tank (not shown), as shown in Figure 1, the flow rate control valve that can adjust the flow rate of nitrogen supplied on the nitrogen supply line 20 The 22 may be fixed to the upper plate 13.

Nitrogen provided from the nitrogen tank (not shown) in the above configuration is supplied to the nitrogen inlet 113 through the nitrogen supply line 20, after passing through the nitrogen inlet passage 115, through the nitrogen outlet 114 transparent tube 140 is supplied into the interior, and the inside of the transparent tube 140 is filled. In this case, the nitrogen filled in the transparent tube 140 is filled between the mold support 157 and the molding groove 102 through the nitrogen connection flow path 105 formed on the lower surface of each of the plurality of stacked molds 101. Therefore, the lens material contained in the forming groove 102 can be prevented from contacting the air.

The ultraviolet lamp module 30 is fixedly installed on the upper surface of the upper plate 13 in close proximity to the mold rotation unit 100. The ultraviolet lamp module 30 is provided with an ultraviolet lamp 32 so that a conventional ultraviolet lamp module capable of emitting ultraviolet rays is applied, and thus its detailed configuration will be omitted.

Ultraviolet rays emitted from the ultraviolet lamp module 30 of the present embodiment are transmitted through the transparent tube 140, and then transferred to the lens material contained in the molding groove 102 of the mold 101 through the mold support 157 to sterilize. Molded as it dries.

The control panel 40 is fixedly installed on the upper surface of the lower frame 11. The control panel 40 includes a control circuit board therein, and is electrically connected to the driving member 160, the ultraviolet lamp module 30, and the flow control valve 40 to control the operation thereof. The control panel 40 may include a button unit (not shown) for a user's operation, and may include a display panel (not shown) for notifying a user of an operation state.

Hereinafter, an operation of the contact lens manufacturing apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the user fills a predetermined amount of liquid lens material in each of the molding grooves 102 of the plurality of molds 101, opens the cover 125, and opens the second hollow part 121 and the second through hole 155. Each mold 101 is sequentially inserted between the three mold supports 157 through the lower part and the lid 125 is closed. For this reason, the plurality of molds 101 are stacked in the vertical direction of the three mold supports 157 from the upper surface of the lower rotating plate 151, and are supported by being sandwiched between the three mold supports 157.

Next, according to the control signal of the control panel 40, the flow rate control valve 22 is opened to fill the nitrogen inside the transparent tube 140 through the nitrogen supply line 20. In this case, nitrogen is also filled in the forming grooves 102 of each of the plurality of molds 101 through the nitrogen connection channel 105 on the lower surfaces of the plurality of molds 101 stacked up and down.

Next, when the servo motor 160 rotates while the ultraviolet lamp 32 emits ultraviolet rays according to the control signal of the control panel 40, the mold seat / rotation member ( As the 150 is rotated and the plurality of molds 101 stacked in conjunction with each other are rotated together, the liquid lens material contained in the forming grooves 102 of the plurality of molds 101 is formed into a lens by centrifugal force.

On the other hand, when the lens molding is completed, the user opens the cover 125, separates the power transmission rotating shaft 166 from the lower rotating plate 151 through the rotating shaft through hole 14, and then removes the first through hole 152. By pushing the lowermost mold 101 upward with a stick (not shown), the mold 101 coming out through the lid 125 is sequentially taken out, and molding is completed from the molding groove 102 of the mold 101. The lens can be pulled out.

As described above, the present invention stacks a plurality of molds 101 in a vertical seating direction on the mold seating / rotating member 150, and rotates the plurality of molds 101 at once, thereby making the plurality of lenses in one rotation process. It can be molded.

In particular, since the mold seating / rotating member 150 is composed of three mold supports 157, and the plurality of molds 101 are forcibly stacked between the three mold supports 157, the ultraviolet lamp 32 is used. Ultraviolet rays emitted from the light may more easily reach the material contained in the forming grooves 102 of the plurality of molds 101.

In addition, a transparent tube 140 is installed to surround the three mold supports 157, nitrogen is supplied into the transparent tube 140, and a nitrogen connection passage 105 is provided on each lower surface of the plurality of molds 101. Since the nitrogen filled in the transparent tube 140 is easily filled in the forming grooves 102 of each of the plurality of molds 101 through the nitrogen connection channel 105, the lens material contained in the forming grooves 102 is formed. Can be isolated from air.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that many changes and modifications of the present invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, all such appropriate modifications and changes, and equivalents thereof, should be regarded as within the scope of the present invention.

10 ... body
20.Nitrogen Supply Line
UV lamp module
40.Control panel
100 ... molded rotating unit
110.Lower fixing plate
120 ... top fixing plate
130 ... support
140 ... Transparent tube
150 ... Mould seating / rotating member
160 ... driving member

Claims (8)

main body;
A mold rotating unit installed in the main body and stacking a plurality of molds containing liquid lens material and rotating the mold at once to form the liquid lens material into a lens by centrifugal force;
An ultraviolet lamp module installed in the main body so as to be close to the mold rotating unit and emitting ultraviolet rays to the lens material contained in the plurality of molds; And,
And a nitrogen supply line connected to the mold rotating unit and supplying nitrogen to the mold rotating unit so that the lens material contained in the plurality of molds does not come into contact with air.
The mold rotation unit,
A lower fixing plate fixedly installed at the main body, having a first hollow portion at a center thereof, a nitrogen inlet connected to the nitrogen supply line at one side of an outer circumferential surface thereof, and a nitrogen outlet for discharging the nitrogen supplied to the nitrogen inlet on an upper surface thereof;
An upper fixing plate disposed at an upper portion of the lower fixing plate, having a second hollow portion at a center thereof, and having a cover selectively covering the second hollow portion;
A plurality of supports connecting the lower fixing plate and the upper fixing plate;
A transparent tube formed in a cylindrical shape, connecting the lower fixing plate and the upper fixing plate to be disposed inside the plurality of supports, and the nitrogen outlet being disposed in an inner region;
A mold seating / rotating member disposed inside the transparent tube and rotatably supported by the first hollow portion and the second hollow portion to stack the plurality of molds in a longitudinal direction therein; And,
And a driving member installed on the main body to rotate the mold seating / rotating member.
The apparatus of claim 1,
A lower plate supported on the ground;
An upper plate disposed at an upper portion of the lower plate and provided with an upper surface of the mold rotating unit and the ultraviolet lamp module; And,
Contact lens manufacturing apparatus characterized in that it comprises a vertical support frame for connecting the lower plate and the upper plate.
delete The method of claim 1, wherein the mold seating / rotating member is
A lower rotating plate rotatably supported by the first hollow part and having a first through hole formed at a center thereof;
An upper rotating plate rotatably supported by the second hollow part and having a second through hole formed at a center thereof; And,
A contact lens connecting the lower rotating plate and the upper rotating plate and being spaced apart from each other evenly on a virtual circumference, wherein the plurality of molds are inserted into and stacked by the interference fitting. Manufacturing equipment.
The method of claim 4, wherein
The at least three mold supports are made of three,
Inserted through the second through hole, the contact lens manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that stacked in the vertical longitudinal direction on the mold support from the top of the lower rotating plate in sequence.
The method of claim 5, wherein
Each of the plurality of molds is formed in a disk shape, the upper surface is formed with a molding groove having a circular concave shape to accommodate the liquid lens material, the lower surface of the groove-shaped nitrogen connection connecting the center to the outer peripheral surface Contact lens manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that the flow path is formed.
The method of claim 1,
Contact lens manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that on the nitrogen supply line is installed a flow rate control valve for adjusting the flow rate of nitrogen supplied.
The method of claim 7, wherein
And a control panel mounted to the main body to control the operation of the driving member, the flow control valve, and the ultraviolet lamp module.

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