Inflatable membrane apparatus and process for transferring a coating onto a surface of a lens blank
AssigneeEssilor International (Compagnie Generale d'Optique)
InventorsPeiqi Jiang, Fadi O. Adileh, Yassin Yusef Turshani
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An inflatable membrane apparatus (10) comprising (a) a fluid accumulator (11) having an upper and a lower face and a fluid entrance (12), said lower face being partly formed by an inflatable membrane (14), and (b) a trunconical part (15) projecting outwardly from the lower face of the accumulator whose greater base is closed by at least part of the inflatable membrane (14) and smaller base forms a circular opening, whereby, when pressurized fluid is introduced into the accumulator (11), deformation of the inflatable membrane (14) is guided by the trunconical part.
Claims20
An inflatable membrane apparatus for transferring a transferable coating onto a lens blank, the apparatus comprising:
- a fluid accumulator having an upper and a lower face and a fluid entrance, said lower face being partly formed by an inflatable membrane;
- a trunconical part projecting outwardly from the lower face of the accumulator, wherein the greater base of the trunconical part is closed by the lower face, and wherein the smaller base of the trunconical part forms a circular opening;
- and
- a flexible carrier for receiving the transferable coating thereon and configured to be disposed between the inflatable membrane and the lens blank;
- where the inflatable membrane apparatus is configured such that, as pressurized fluid is introduced into the accumulator, deformation of the inflatable membrane is guided by the trunconical part to urge the transferable coating against the lens blank.
A process for transferring a coating from a flexible carrier and onto a geometrically defined surface of a lens blank, the process comprising:
- depositing an amount of curable glue on at least one of said geometrically defined surface and said coating;
- placing the lens blank and the flexible carrier in front of an inflatable membrane of an inflatable membrane apparatus comprising:
- a fluid accumulator having an upper and a lower face and a fluid entrance, said lower face being partly formed by the inflatable membrane;
- and
- a trunconical part projecting outwardly from the lower face of the accumulator, wherein the greater base of the trunconical part is closed by the lower face, and wherein the smaller base of the trunconical part forms a circular opening;
- and
- introducing fluid into the accumulator such that the inflatable membrane urges the flexible carrier against the lens blank, thereby coupling the coating and the geometrically defined surface via the glue, where deformation of the inflatable membrane is guided by the trunconical part.
A process for transferring a coating from a flexible carrier and onto a geometrically defined surface of a lens blank, the process comprising:
- placing the lens blank and the flexible carrier in front of an inflatable membrane of an inflatable membrane apparatus comprising:
- a fluid accumulator having an upper and a lower face and a fluid entrance, said lower face being partly formed by the inflatable membrane;
- and
- a trunconical part projecting outwardly from the lower face of the accumulator, wherein the greater base of the trunconical part is closed by the lower face, and wherein the smaller base of the trunconical part forms a circular opening;
- and
- introducing fluid into the accumulator such that the inflatable membrane urges the flexible carrier against the lens blank, thereby transferring the coating from the flexible carrier and onto the geometrically defined surface of the lens blank, where deformation of the inflatable membrane is guided by the trunconical part.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.