Method of cleaning and disinfecting contact lens, and apparatus therefor

An apparatus for cleaning and disinfecting contact lenses comprising:

• a housing defining a top open chamber and a bottom chamber, said housing having two metal contact plates bilaterally mounted opposite each other in said top open chamber;
• a cylindrical ultrasonic wave guide mounted in said top open chamber of said housing;
• a graduated cleaning cup detachably mounted in said ultrasonic wave guide, said graduated cleaning cup having an outer thread residing above said ultrasonic wave guide when said graduated cleaning cup is inserted into said ultrasonic wave guide;
• a lens holder mounted in said graduated cleaning cup, said lens holder including an outward top flange sitting on top of said graduated cleaning cup, a holder base depending from said outward top flange into said graduated cleaning cup, and two lens suspending devices respectively mounted on two opposite side walls of said holder base for holding a contact lens, each of the two opposite side walls of said holder base having a grill through which a solution medium passes, each of said lens suspending devices pivotally connected to the respective opposite side wall of said holder base and each of said lens suspending devices having a respective semi-spherical grill overlaying the grill of said holder base;
• a heating rod suspended in said holder base of said lens holder, said heating rod having two electrodes;
• a top cap connected to said graduated cleaning cup, said top cap including an inner thread to threadingly engage said outer thread of said cleaning cup and two contact metal plates respectively disposed in contact with said two electrodes of said heating rod and said two metal contact plates of said housing;
• and
• a control circuit mounted in said bottom chamber of said housing, said control circuit including p2 a microprocessor connected to said two metal contact plates of said housing for controlling said heating rod to heat the solution medium to 90° C. for about 15-20 minutes,
• an ultrasonic speaker mounted to a bottom side of said ultrasonic wave guide, said ultrasonic speaker controlled by said microprocessor to provide an ultrasonic energy field in a frequency range of about 20-30 khz with an energy of about 1.5-3 W/cm2 for about 6-10 minutes to clean contact lenses held by said lens suspending devices,
• a first control switch to stop the operation of said microprocessor,
• a second control switch to control said microprocessor to turn on said ultrasonic speaker,
• a third control switch to control said microprocessor to turn on said heating rod,
• a fourth control switch to control said microprocessor to turn on said ultrasonic speaker and said heating rod through a predetermined automatic operation procedure,
• a first indicator light coupled to said first control switch,
• a second indicator light coupled to said second control switch,
• a third indicator light coupled to said third control switch, and
• a fourth indicator light coupled to said fourth control switch.