Production line for the production of ophthalmic lenses

An automated production line for the production of ophthalmic lenses, in particular contact lenses such as soft contact lenses, for example silicone hydrogel contact lenses, the production line comprising:

• a production line front end (1) comprising:
• a first injection-molding machine (10) 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, in particular less than five seconds, and preferably in two to five seconds;
• a second injection-molding machine (12) 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, in particular less than five seconds, and preferably in two to five seconds;
• a casting module (14) comprising
• a filling station (144) 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 (145) 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 (1470) configured to transfer the corresponding number of closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) containing the lens-forming material from the casting module (14) to
• a stacking module (15) comprising
• a plurality of lens mold trays (150), each lens mold tray (150) configured for being loaded with a multiple of the corresponding number of closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) transferred by the first transfer robot (1470) and containing the lens-forming material,
• a stacking robot for stacking a plurality of lens mold trays (150) loaded with the closed plastic lens molds containing the lens-forming material to form a stack (151) of lens mold trays (150);
• a curing module (16) comprising
• a plurality of ovens (160),
• a stack handling robot (162),
• wherein each individual oven (160) of the plurality of ovens comprises a heatable chamber (161) sized to accommodate a said stack (151) of lens mold trays (150) carrying the closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) as well as a door for opening and closing the chamber (161), to allow the stack handling robot (162) to load a said stack (151) of lens mold trays (150) loaded with the closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) containing the lens-forming material into the heatable chamber (161) when the door is open,
• to allow the heatable chamber (161) 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 (150) of the stack (151) when the door is closed,
• and to allow the stack handling robot (162) to remove a said stack (151) of lens mold trays (150) loaded with the closed plastic lens molds (BCM/FCM) containing the cured lenses (CL) from the chamber (161) when the door is open again, and;
• a destacking module (17) comprising a destacking robot configured to destack the individual lens mold trays (150) from the stack (151) of lens mold trays (150) removed from the chamber (161) of a said oven (160) for allowing access to the closed plastic molds (BCM/FCM) of each individual lens mold tray (150);
• a second transfer robot (180) 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 (150) to
• a demolding and delensing module (18) comprising
• a demolding station (1813, 1820) 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 (1817, 1827) 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 (200);
• a production line back end (2) comprising:
• a treatment module (20) for a liquid bath treatment of the cured lenses (CL) carried by the treatment carrier tray (200) to obtain the ophthalmic lenses;
• an inspection module (21) for the inspection of the ophthalmic lenses, the inspection module comprising:
• a closed-loop rail (210)
• a plurality of self-driving shuttles (211) arranged on the closed-loop rail (210), each self-driving shuttle (211) carrying a plurality of inspection cuvettes (2110) arranged thereon;
• a plurality of inspection stations (2100 — 21010) arranged along the closed-loop rail;
• and
• a primary packaging module (22) for packaging those ophthalmic lenses that have successfully passed the inspection in primary packaging containers.