Production line for the production of ophthalmic lenses

An automated production line for the production of ophthalmic lenses, the production line comprising:

• a production line front end comprising:
• a first injection-molding machine arranged in the production line and configured to concurrently produce a plurality of front curve plastic lens molds (FCM) within a predetermined cycle time of less than ten seconds;
• a second injection-molding machine arranged in the production line and configured to concurrently produce a corresponding plurality of base curve plastic lens molds (BCM) within the same predetermined cycle time of less than ten seconds;
• a casting module comprising:
• a filling station configured to dose a predetermined amount of lens-forming material into a predetermined number of the front curve plastic lens molds (FCM),
• a capping station configured to place a corresponding number of the base curve plastic lens molds (BCM) having the same age as the predetermined number of front curve plastic lens molds (FCM) on the predetermined number of front curve
• plastic lens molds (FCM) containing the predetermined amount of lens-forming material, to form a corresponding number of closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) containing the lens-forming material;
• a first transfer robot configured to transfer the corresponding number of closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) containing the lens-forming material from the casting module to
• a stacking module comprising
• a plurality of lens mold trays, each lens mold tray configured for being loaded with a multiple of the corresponding number of closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) transferred by the first transfer robot and containing the lens-forming material,
• a stacking robot for stacking a plurality of lens mold trays loaded with the closed plastic lens molds containing the lens-forming material to form a stack of lens mold trays;
• a curing module comprising
• a plurality of ovens,
• a stack handling robot,
• wherein each individual oven of the plurality of ovens comprises a heatable chamber sized to accommodate a said stack of lens mold trays carrying the closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) as well as a door for opening and closing the chamber, to allow the stack handling robot to load a said stack of lens mold trays loaded with the closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) containing the lens-forming material into the heatable chamber when the door is open, to allow the heatable chamber to be heated to a predetermined temperature to effect curing of the lens-forming material to form cured lenses (CL) in the closed plastic lens molds on the individual lens mold trays of the stack when the door is closed, and to allow the stack handling robot to remove a said stack of lens mold trays loaded with the closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) containing the cured lenses (CL) from the chamber when the door is open again,
• a destacking module comprising a destacking robot configured to destack the
• individual lens mold trays from the stack of lens mold trays removed from the chamber of a said oven for allowing access to the closed plastic molds (BCM/FCM) of each individual lens mold tray;
• a second transfer robot configured to transfer a predetermined number of the closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) containing the cured lenses (CL) from a said individual lens mold tray to
• a demolding and delensing module comprising:
• a demolding station configured to open the predetermined number of closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) by separating the base curve plastic lens molds (BCM) and the front curve plastic lens molds (FCM) from each other, with the cured lenses adhering either to the base curve plastic lens molds (BCM) or to the front curve plastic lens molds (FCM),
• a delensing station configured to release the cured lenses (CL) from the base curve plastic lens molds (BCM) or from the front curve plastic lens molds (FCM),
• a transfer gripper (TG2) configured to transfer the cured lenses (CL) released from the delensing station to a treatment carrier tray;
• a production line back end comprising:
• a treatment module for a liquid bath treatment of the cured lenses (CL) carried by the treatment carrier tray to obtain the ophthalmic lenses;
• an inspection module for the inspection of the ophthalmic lenses;
• and
• a primary packaging module for packaging those ophthalmic lenses that have successfully passed the inspection in primary packaging containers,
• wherein the inspection module of the production line back end comprises:
• a closed-loop rail having a geometric shape that can be freely determined so as to fit in the space defined by a room where the closed-loop rail is arranged,
• a plurality of self-driving shuttles arranged on the closed-loop rail, each self-driving shuttle carrying a plurality of inspection cuvettes arranged thereon;
• a plurality of stations arranged along the closed-loop rail, the plurality of stations comprising the following individual stations arranged along the closed-loop rail in the following sequence:
• a cuvette filling station configured to fill the plurality of cuvettes with water, the plurality of cuvettes being arranged on a said shuttle in a handling position,
• a lens insertion station configured to insert the ophthalmic lenses transferred from the treatment module into the plurality of filled cuvettes arranged on the shuttles, one said ophthalmic lens into one said cuvette,
• a first cuvette tilting station configured to tilt the plurality of cuvettes arranged on the shuttle from the handling position to an inspection position,
• a lens inspection station configured to inspect the ophthalmic lenses in the plurality of cuvettes,
• a first cuvette tilting-back station for tilting the plurality of cuvettes containing the inspected ophthalmic lenses from the inspection position back to the handling position,
• an ophthalmic lens transfer station for transferring those inspected ophthalmic lenses that have successfully passed the inspection to the primary packaging module, and
• a cuvette cleaning station for sucking the water from the plurality of cuvettes.