Method for cleaning optical surfaces
AssigneeIMAX Corporation
InventorKevin P. Kowalchuk
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for cleaning an optical surface such as an eyeglass lens involves the use of a cleaning head having a contact seal for engaging around the perimeter of the surface to be cleaned. The cleaning head defines a shallow cleaning cavity which includes the optical surface and the surface is cleaned by generating in the cavity a high velocity air flow across the surface, introducing a cleaning fluid into the air flow so as to scrub the surface, and terminating the introduction of cleaning fluid while maintaining the air flow to remove any residual cleaning fluid. A particular application of the method to simultaneously clean all four surfaces of the eyeglass lenses of a pair of 3-D glasses is also disclosed.
Claims7
A method of cleaning an optical surface comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a cleaning head having a front face which includes a seal shaped to circumscribe the optical surface to be cleaned;
- (b) bringing said head and surface together so that the optical surface and the cleaning head combine to form a sealed cleaning cavity;
- (c) generating in said cavity, a high velocity air flow across said optical surface;
- (d) introducing a cleaning fluid into the high velocity air flow upstream of said surface;
- and,
- (e) terminating the introduction of cleaning fluid while maintaining said air flow to remove any residual cleaning fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.