Solidworks Helps Adlens Design Adaptive Eyewear
Using Solidworks software, Adlens has created a layered lens that enables wearers to dial up custom prescription eyeglasses with no help from an optician, optometrist or ophthalmologist. Under guidance of a trained person (for instance, a community health worker) Adlens' adaptive eyeglasses adjust with the turn of a knob to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness and presbyopia (loss of focus). Adlens used Solidworks to design a four-layer polycarbonate eyeglass lens.
Two rigid lenses enclose a cavity housing, a flexible third lens that contains a volume of oil. Knobs on the eyeglass frames pump the transparent oil in or out of the lens, where the middle layer flexes to provide the optical power the wearer needs. Then the wearer simply removes the levers and the adjustment knobs to lock in the prescription. 'Creating a mechanism delicate enough for fine adjustments yet durable enough to survive heat, dust and transportation over long distances was challenging,' said Adlens product designer Alex Edginton.
'Solidworks enabled the Adlens engineering team to experiment with designs that would balance precision and ruggedness. 'Structural integrity and durability are significant considerations for us. 'Rwanda, where we are working with the Ministry of Health to provide our spectacles, has a wide range of environmental conditions.
'The lenses and adjuster mechanisms are designed and tested to cope with the harsh conditions they will be subjected to.
'Solidworks enabled us to evaluate new designs quickly and easily. 'We used the 3D data to visualise concepts, create rapid prototypes and produce finished components, and Solidworks was particularly helpful in understanding the interaction of each component in the product. 'We're putting much more functionality than usual into a pair of spectacles with the adjustable lenses, seals and mechanisms, which are assemblies of complex, precision components. 'Fitting them together optimally was critical,' he added.
Two rigid lenses enclose a cavity housing, a flexible third lens that contains a volume of oil. Knobs on the eyeglass frames pump the transparent oil in or out of the lens, where the middle layer flexes to provide the optical power the wearer needs. Then the wearer simply removes the levers and the adjustment knobs to lock in the prescription. 'Creating a mechanism delicate enough for fine adjustments yet durable enough to survive heat, dust and transportation over long distances was challenging,' said Adlens product designer Alex Edginton.
'Solidworks enabled the Adlens engineering team to experiment with designs that would balance precision and ruggedness. 'Structural integrity and durability are significant considerations for us. 'Rwanda, where we are working with the Ministry of Health to provide our spectacles, has a wide range of environmental conditions.
'The lenses and adjuster mechanisms are designed and tested to cope with the harsh conditions they will be subjected to.
'Solidworks enabled us to evaluate new designs quickly and easily. 'We used the 3D data to visualise concepts, create rapid prototypes and produce finished components, and Solidworks was particularly helpful in understanding the interaction of each component in the product. 'We're putting much more functionality than usual into a pair of spectacles with the adjustable lenses, seals and mechanisms, which are assemblies of complex, precision components. 'Fitting them together optimally was critical,' he added.
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