JPH05165063A - Electrochromic spectacle lens equipped with degrees - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the production processes and make mass-production of spectacle lenses by forming an electrochromic(EC) element having a sealing structure on a glass lens without degrees, and thereto adhering a plastics lens equipped with degrees. CONSTITUTION:An EC lens is composed of a glass lens 2 without degrees and an EC element 1 having sealing structure formed on the surface of the glass lens 2, and a plastic lens 4 equipped with degrees is adhered to the front or rear surface of this EC lens, and thereby an EC spectacle lens with degrees is formed. The base board on which the EC element 1 is formed and a sealing structure to seal the board are formed from glass of degree 0, and plastic lens with degrees is fixed appropriately according to the person to wear it who needs his own power. Therein the process of forming EC element requiring special vacuum device till a process of sealing it can be made common irrespective of the power, which enables continuous production in a great quantity.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a spectacle lens having a variable transmittance using a lens provided with an electrochromic element.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electrochromic (hereinafter abbreviated as "EC") element is a planar element that utilizes reversible color tone change due to a redox reaction of a substance, and its optical absorption density (transmittance) is changed by an electric current supplied from the outside. Can be controlled. E
The C lens is one in which this EC element is formed on a spectacle lens, and has a feature that the transmittance of the spectacle lens can be freely adjusted by a switch. If a lens with a degree is used for the substrate of the EC element or the sealing glass, the degree EC
A lens can be made.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional prescription EC lens. As shown in the figure, the prescription EC lens includes a substrate lens 2 and an EC element 1 formed in a thin film on the substrate lens 2.
And the sealing lens 13 with a degree that also functions as a sealing material that protects the thin film surface adhered on the element 1.

[0004]

In the prescription EC lens as shown in FIG. 2, the prescription lens is also used as the substrate or the sealing glass. Therefore, in the stage of the sealing process of the production line of this spectacle lens, the sealing work is performed by using the lens of various frequencies that meet the customer's request to manufacture the prescription EC lens.

On the other hand, leaving the EC element unsealed for a long time causes uneven coloring and film cracks. Therefore, it is necessary to seal the EC element immediately after the film formation, and it is necessary to avoid the complicated management of the production process and perform the order-made production. As a result, it took a long time to receive the customer's request and hand over the EC lens.

[0006] In addition, such an EC lens with a degree has to be manufactured individually, so that it cannot be mass-produced and the manufacturing cost is high. Further, since the thin film type EC element does not operate when the water content in the film is lost, a plastic lens having high water absorption cannot be used as a prescription lens. Therefore, even if the thickness of the prescription lens is large, a glass lens must be used, and the lens is heavy.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems.

[0008]

To achieve the above object, in the present invention, a thickness of 0.4 mm or more and 1 mm or less, which is composed of a glass lens and an electrochromic element having a sealing structure formed on the surface of the lens, is used. Electrochromic lens of, and a plastic prescription lens adhered to the front or back surface of this electrochromic lens,
To construct an electrochromic spectacle lens with degree.

[0009]

In the present invention, the substrate (substrate lens) on which the EC element is formed and the sealing structure for sealing the EC element are both made of glass having a frequency of 0 (no degree). And
It has a structure in which a plastic lens with a degree can be attached to each person who wears it to have a different degree of power.

Therefore, in the production process, the formation of the EC element, which requires a special vacuum device and a complicated process, and the encapsulation process can be standardized regardless of the lens power, and continuous mass production processing can be performed. It will be possible. Then, store it at a stage before attaching a plastic lens with a degree (this is a sealed EC lens with a degree of 0),
If a plastic lens with a desired frequency is attached at the time of shipping, it can be shipped immediately as a finished product. Therefore, the manufacturing time and cost of the prescription lens are reduced.

Further, in order to manufacture an EC lens with a proper diopter for each individual, it is only necessary to select a plastic lens with an appropriate diopter and bond it to the sealed EC lens with an adhesive or the like. The number of days from when the request is made until the delivery is greatly reduced. In addition, thin film EC
Since the element itself is sandwiched between a glass lens without a degree and a sealing structure made of glass, there is no risk of losing water in the film. Therefore, the prescription lens can be made of plastic and can be made lighter than the case where a glass lens is used.

If the thickness of the glass portion for sealing the EC element is too thin, it may be damaged during the work, which makes the handling difficult. On the other hand, if the thickness is increased, the effect of weight reduction is impaired. Therefore, in implementation, E
The thickness of the C element after sealing (that is, the thickness of the sealed EC lens) is preferably 0.4 mm or more and 1.0 mm or less.

Here, the characteristics of the EC element are as follows. The EC element is planar, and an example of a preferable thin film type structure is as follows: electrode layer / EC layer / ion good conductivity layer / four-layer structure such as electrode layer, electrode layer / reducing coloring EC layer / ion A five-layer structure such as a good conductive layer / reversible electrolytic oxidation layer or an oxidation coloring EC layer / electrode layer can be mentioned. In this case, both electrode layers must be transparent.

As the material of the transparent electrode, SnO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ ,
ITO etc. are used. Such an electrode layer is generally formed by a vacuum thin film forming technique such as vacuum deposition, ion plating and sputtering. As the (reducing coloring) EC layer, WO ₃ , MoO ₃ or the like is generally used. As the ion conductive layer, for example, silicon oxide, tantalum oxide, titanium oxide, aluminum oxide, niobium oxide, zirconium oxide, hafnium oxide, lanthanum oxide, magnesium fluoride or the like is used.

The order of the EC layer and the ion conductivity layer may be either upper (or lower). Also,
A reversible electrolytic oxidation layer, an oxidation coloring EC layer, or a catalyst layer may be provided on the EC layer with an ion conductive layer interposed therebetween. Examples of such a layer include iridium oxide or hydroxide, nickel, chromium, vanadium, ruthenium, rhodium and the like.

When a voltage is applied to such an EC element, it is gradually colored or decolored, and the transmittance of the lens changes.

[0017]

1 is a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention. On the concave surface (the surface on the side of the wearer) of the glass substrate lens 2 made of glass having a thickness of 0.2 mm, the lower ITO transparent electrode layer 5 having a film pressure of 2000 Å and the iridium oxide (Ir oxide) film having a film pressure of 2000 Å were formed by the reactive sputtering method. ₂ O ₃ ), a reversible electrolytic oxide layer 6, a tantalum oxide layer (Ta ₂ O ₅ ) having a film pressure of 3000 Å 7, and a tungsten trioxide (WO ₃ ) film having a film pressure of 5000 Å
Reduction coloring EC layer 8 consisting of and the upper part of membrane pressure 2000 Å
The ITO transparent electrode layer 9 is formed.

The film forming conditions at this time are shown in Table 1.

[0019]

[Table 1]

Each of the layers 5 to 9 forms the EC device 1. The thickness of the EC element 1 is adjusted by the adhesive 12
A 0.2 mm sealing glass 3 is bonded. In this embodiment, an epoxy resin is used as the adhesive 12. As a result, a 0.4 mm thick sealed EC lens (without power) is obtained. Further, as an electrode lead-out terminal from each of the electrode layers, a long conductive clip terminal 10 having a substantially U-shaped cross section is attached to an electrode lead-out portion of the outer peripheral portion of the sealed EC lens. It is in electrical contact with the upper electrode layer 9 and the lower electrode layer 5. The external wiring 11 is soldered to the clip 10.

As described above, a sealed EC lens (having no degree) with a thickness of 0.4 mm is obtained. This EC lens
Since it is sandwiched between the glass substrate lens 2 and the sealing glass 3, it has a structure capable of itself functioning as an EC eyeglass lens without a degree. Therefore, the prescription EC lens is common except for the plastic prescription lens 4.

As a result, the sealed EC lens is mass-produced. Then, an appropriate prescription EC lens can be obtained by selecting an appropriate prescription plastic lens 4 suitable for the wearer and joining it with an adhesive or the like as described above. In this example, finally, a prescription EC spectacle lens was completed by adhering a -2.00 diopter plastic lens 12 using the epoxy resin to the concave surface side of the EC lens.

[0023]

According to the present invention, it is possible to simplify the production process of the prescription EC eyeglass lens. In addition, mass production is possible. Furthermore, since a plastic lens can be used as the prescription lens, the weight can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional prescription EC spectacle lens.

[Explanation of symbols for main parts]

 1 thin film EC element 2 substrate lens (glass lens without degree) 3 sealing glass (sealing structure) 4 lens with degree 5 lower transparent electrode layer 6 oxidation coloring EC layer 7 ion conductive layer 8 reduction coloring EC layer 9 Upper transparent electrode layer 10 Conductive clip terminal 11 External wiring 12 Adhesive 13 degree Encapsulated lens

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electrochromic lens having a thickness of 0.4 mm or more and 1 mm or less, which comprises a glass lens and an electrochromic element having a sealing structure formed on the surface thereof, and a front surface or a back surface of the electrochromic lens. A prescription electrochromic spectacle lens, which comprises a plastic prescription lens adhered to the.