JPH05341237A - Hard coating method and apparatus for manufacturing plastic lenses for spectacles - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Correction) [Purpose] Quickly provide hard coat lenses that match the customer's prescription to reduce inventory management costs and manufacturing costs. [Structure] Steps 165, 16 for cleaning one surface of the lens
6, the hard coat liquid application step 167, and the preliminary baking step 169 of the applied hard coat liquid, and then the cleaning process for the other surface is returned to and the lens is inverted to clean the lens for the other surface. The calcination steps 174 and 175, the hard coat liquid application step 176, and the temporary baking step 169 are performed, and then the main baking is performed through the baking furnace 65. This hard coating device is a lens concave surface treatment system 165-16
9 and the convex surface treatment systems 169 to 176 are arranged in parallel, and the return path conveying device 1 for returning the lens, which has been calcined on one surface after application of the hard coat liquid, to the cleaning steps 165 and 174 for the other surface.
72, and transfer means 168 for loading the lens into the pre-baking furnace 169 and transferring the lens to the return path transfer device 172.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hard coating method and apparatus for manufacturing plastic lenses for spectacles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A spectacle lens is made for an individual for myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia, and astigmatism according to a prescription based on an optometry.

On the other hand, recently, molded lenses made of plastic have been widely used instead of conventional glass lenses.
This is especially noticeable in progressive multifocal lenses for both distance and near vision.

Conventionally, a spectacle lens is manufactured as a blank in advance and stocked, and it is polished according to a customer's prescription according to necessary conditions such as a power and an angle of astigmatism to obtain a spectacle lens for the customer. Or predict the frequently prescribed prescription content and manufacture it as a finished product in advance and stock it.
It is by selecting and using the lens that best suits the customer. At this time, the prescription data of the customer is ordered from a spectacles retail store to a manufacturing department of a predetermined lens maker by a facsimile or the like, and then processed again into manufacturing data for a manufacturing line and input to a management computer. There is.

[0005]

However, in order to manufacture a lens by polishing from a blank according to an individual customer's prescription, it takes a period of 1 to 2 weeks at the earliest from the time an order is received to the time it reaches the customer. In addition, there is a possibility that a transfer error of the manufacturing data from the prescription data may occur. Furthermore, there is a problem that the cost increases because the polishing process requires highly accurate processing machine equipment.

On the other hand, when preparing a finished product in advance,
Although it has the advantage of reaching the customer's hands in a relatively short time, in the case of bifocal spectacle lenses, it covers all types of dioptric power such as distance vision, near vision, astigmatism, etc., as well as combinations of lens sizes. Has the problem that a huge amount of stock is required.

In view of the above points, the present invention significantly shortens the time required for the process from receiving an order from a customer to shipping the product, enables the quick and accurate specification of the product, and reduces the manufacturing cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide a hard coating method and apparatus for manufacturing plastic lenses for spectacles, which can reduce inventory management and can accurately provide a hard coating lens suitable for a customer's prescription.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems The object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the above-mentioned conventional techniques, and the present invention responds to the prescription data by a light or thermosetting plastic material based on the prescription data of the customer. In the manufacture of plastic lenses for spectacles, which includes the steps of molding a lens to be hard-coated and subjecting the molded lens to a hard coating treatment, a cleaning step of cleaning one surface of the molded lens and applying a hard coat liquid After passing through the hard coating liquid application process and the preliminary baking process of temporarily baking the hard coating liquid, the lens is returned to the cleaning process for the other surface and the lens is inverted to clean the lens for the other surface. Through the coating liquid application process and the calcination process,
A hard coating method in the production of a plastic lens for spectacles, which is followed by a main firing through a firing furnace, is defined as claim 1, and the prescription data of the light or thermosetting plastic material is based on the prescription data of the customer. Calcination lens for cleaning the lens formed in accordance with the above and a hard surface treatment system for arranging two paths of a concave surface treatment system and a convex surface treatment system of the lens are arranged side by side, and a temporary firing furnace for temporarily firing after applying the hard coat liquid The return path transport device that returns the lens whose one surface is temporarily baked to the cleaning process for the other surface, and the transfer that transfers the lens after applying the hard coat liquid to the temporary baking jig for loading into the temporary baking furnace. And a mounting means for transferring the lens, which has been calcined on one side, to the return path transport device. The coating apparatus is intended to claim 2.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings.

In the manufacture of the plastic lens for spectacles according to the present invention, for example, as shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1, the prescription data obtained from the customer is directly online from the terminal provided in the spectacle retail store by the manufacturing department of the lens maker. To the host computer 1 of the above, or the relay point from the retail store receives the prescription data by a transmission means such as a telephone or a facsimile and is transmitted online from the relay point. The data is processed into manufacturing data for a manufacturing line, and after a molding step 2 in which a lens is molded based on the manufacturing data, a hard coating step of applying a hard coat to the lens surface based on the specifications of the lens surface treatment. 3,
All or selected of the dyeing process 4 for dyeing the surface of the lens and the antireflection film deposition process 5 for forming the antireflection film on the surface of the lens, and then the product lens is packaged to prepare for shipping. , Integrated production of plastic lenses according to customer's own prescription, or product stock by manufacturing based on past order record at a predetermined time.

The data in each of the above-mentioned processes is assigned from the host computer 1 to a predetermined process block.
Of the above-mentioned manufacturing data, necessary data is provided to a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as block PC1 to block PC4) for communicating with each other in the process. Further, a total of 18 personal computers for communication control (hereinafter referred to as PC-1 to PC-18) are connected under the block PC-1 to block PC-4. In each work step, the PC No. to PC-18 are Nos. For manufacturing the bar code attached to the lens or pallet flowing through the line. Referring to the above, the predetermined manufacturing data is received from the upper-level corresponding block PC, and the pass / fail of the predetermined inspection data input is directly determined, and the inspection pass / fail results and defective items input by the worker are displayed in the upper-level corresponding block. It fulfills communication control functions such as sending to a PC.

Further, since each PC also carries out the check of the passage of the product, it is possible to immediately confirm the current state of the predetermined product. Based on this current situation data, it becomes possible to respond quickly to inquiries about the progress from retail stores via online.

Next, each step will be described together with the contents of data by the PC. [Lens Molding Step] The lens molding step 2 shows a block diagram in the case of using a photocurable plastic raw material in FIG. 2, and the contents thereof are based on prescription data from PC-1.
In other words, it is classified according to whether it is a consistent product or a built-in product, and in the case of a built-in product, it is classified into a blank stock, a hard coat stock, or a hard coat + antireflection treated stock, and the necessary data for each (Fig. 3). A work label 7 is printed by the printer 6. As the issued work label 7, as shown in FIG. 3, "consistent product", "manufactured product", "polishing product", "HC"
(Hard coat) Disposable product "and" Deposition by evaporation product ". In the data displayed here, "Production No."
Is attached by substituting the production number by the host computer 1 based on the rearrangement number at the time of ordering, and a 5-digit number sequence is used. The “glass type (P type)” refers to the upper mold 9, and the “glass type (A, C type)” refers to two types of the lower mold 10. The photocurable plastic material used is urethane acrylic.

In the case of an integrated product, the mold tray 8 displayed on the work label 7 is collated by the PC-2 and the mold is ejected. The tray 8 has a thin box shape in which two receiving portions 8a and 8b capable of individually receiving the mold pallets 11 and 12 respectively accommodating a pair of upper and lower molds 9 and 10 (made of glass) are adjacent to each other. The work label 7 is applied to the outer side surface of the tray 8 manually or by mechanical means. And these mold pallets 1
The trays 1 and 12 are stored in the receiving portions 8a and 8b of the tray 8.

The trays 8 are stacked and set in several places, and are transferred from the stacked lower side to the cleaning step 13 immediately before entering the assembly step 14 of the molds 9 and 10. At this time, the “processing priority” of the instruction content by the work label 7
If there is an express train, the tray will be given priority for cleaning process 1
Sent to 3.

In the cleaning step 13, the molds 9 and 1
The both surfaces thereof are cleaned so that the light transmittance of 0 is perfect, and the peripheral surface is cleaned so as to improve the tape attachment in the subsequent process. This cleaning is performed by applying the peripheral surface of a sponge roll 15 such as urethane foam containing a cleaning liquid to the peripheral surface of each mold 9 or 10 in the first tank, as shown in FIGS. Chuck 16 for holding
The (suction pad) is rotated at 500 to 1000 rpm and the sponge roll 15 is rotated in the same direction for cleaning. At this time, the pressing force of the sponge roll 15 is controlled based on the outer diameter measurement results of the molds 9 and 10. In the second tank, the use surfaces of the molds 9 and 10 are chucked, and the non-use surfaces are cleaned by moving the sponge roll 17 outward from the center of the mold while rotating the sponge roll 17 at 200 to 500 rpm. At this time, the molds 9 and 10 are given the same rotation as described above, and the moving distance of the sponge roll 17 is controlled based on the outer diameter data of the molds 9 and 10, so that the sponge roll 17 moves outside the molds 9 and 10. When it reaches the end, it is separated from the molds 9 and 10. The third tank is washed with pure water in the same manner as the second tank. After being washed in this way, an appropriate amount (2 to 3 cc) of IPA (isopropyl alcohol) is applied to the washed surfaces of the molds 9 and 10 in the fourth tank and dried. At this time, the chuck 1
The rotation speed of 6 is low during IPA coating and high during drying (see FIG. 8), and the cycle time is about 20 seconds. However, if the transport time is subtracted, the actual time required is 13 seconds.
It can be finished within seconds.

After washing and drying the non-use surface in this way, the molds 9 and 10 are inverted and chucked so that the use surface is on the upper side before entering the fifth tank.

In the fifth, sixth and seventh tanks, the molds 9 and 9 are manufactured by the same process as the second, third and fourth tanks.
The 10 working surfaces are cleaned and dried. However, the 7th
In the tank, in order to control the adhesion between the use surface and the plastic raw material, for example, a cationic activator 50
Apply ~ 3000ppm IPA and dry. As a result, the mold releasability can be improved regardless of whether it is a photocurable or thermosetting plastic raw material. After the processing in the seventh tank is completed, the mold assembling step 14
Transferred to.

An example of the mold assembling process 14 is shown in FIGS. In this embodiment, the upper mold 9
Upper and lower molds 9 and 10 are conveyed by conveying means 18 and 19 (specifically, by belts) for the lower mold 10 and the lower jig 10, and the set jig 2 is conveyed from these conveying means 18 and 19.
The molds 9 and 10 are gripped by 0 and 21 and transferred to the positioning unit 22.

As shown in FIG. 9, the positioning portion 22 supports the lower surfaces of the front and rear ends of the molds 9 and 10 in the diametrical direction, and has a space in which the mold holders 23 and 24 can be inserted between the molds 9 and 10. The mold pedestals 25, 25 and 26, 26, which are placed in a completely horizontal state, along the upper surface of the mold pedestals, and directed toward the diametrical front and rear end faces of the molds 9, 10 placed across the opposite ends of the mold pedestals. It has a pair of centering tools 27, 27 and 28, 28 that move evenly, and the opposite end faces of the centering tools are V-shaped with a shallow planar shape so as to contact two points on the peripheral surfaces of the molds 9, 10. Abutment edge 27a,
28a.

Therefore, by placing the upper and lower molds 9 and 10 on the respective mold holders 25, 25, 26 and 26, the parallelism of the molds 9 and 10 is obtained on the upper surface thereof, and the centering tools 27, 27, The optical axes of the molds 9 and 10 are brought out by being pinched between the abutting edges 27a, 27a and 28a, 28a by the approach movement of the molds 28 and 28, and the molds 9 and 10 are positioned by these.

The mold holders 23 and 24 are moved back and forth toward the center of the back surfaces of the molds 9 and 10 by a servomotor, and the tips thereof are suction pads for sucking and holding the molds 9 and 10 without losing their parallelism. Thus, the molds 9 and 10 are held by suction.

As shown in FIG. 11, the molds 9 and 10 are provided with a marking 2 as an index on the peripheral surface for astigmatic axis alignment.
9a and 30a are provided, and the marking position is detected by an optical sensor, and the astigmatic axes between the upper and lower molds 9 and 10 are aligned. This operation is performed by rotating the mold holders 23 and 24. At this time, in order to prevent erroneous detection of marks other than the markings 29a and 30a, markings 29b and 30b are also provided at positions deviated from the reference position by a predetermined angle, and first the markings 29a and 30a are detected and then predetermined. It is desirable that the normal position (reference position) is obtained when the second engraved marks 29b and 30b are detected after being rotated by an angle.

After detecting the reference positions of the molds 9 and 10, the lower mold 10 is rotated by an angle corresponding to the astigmatic axis,
After the lower mold 10 is rotated, the edge thickness of the lower mold 10 corresponding to the raw material injection position 31 formed on the upper mold 9 is scanned and measured by an optical sensor. As shown in FIG. 12, the raw material injection position 31 comprises a notch 32 which is recessed in the shape of a semi-cylindrical cross section in the radial direction of the peripheral portion of the upper mold 9, and the inner end of the notch 32 is located around the lens to be molded. It extends to a slightly overlapping position.

After measuring the edge thickness of the lower mold 10 corresponding to the raw material injection position 31 as described above, the mold holder 2
3, 24 are moved on the same axis (FIG. 9 (C)-
(D)) Subsequently, the molds 9 and 10 are moved toward each other in the axial direction so as to have a predetermined center thickness to determine the center thickness, and then the adhesive tape 33 is provided so as to straddle the peripheral surfaces of the molds 9 and 10. Wrap around. As a result, the mold assembly 34 having the lens molding cavity formed therein is obtained.

The astigmatic axis and the central thickness are calculated in advance by the PC-3, and the mold holders 23 and 24 are rotated.
This is performed by controlling the servo motor for controlling the thickness.

Immediately before the adhesive tape 33 is completely wound, the ink jet prints on the outer surface of the adhesive tape 33 the same number (for verification) as the number attached to the tray 8.

In the cleaning process 13 to the assembling process 14, the molds 9 and 10 are separated from the tray 8, but the tray 8 is transferred in synchronism by the conveying means (eg, belt conveyor) running in parallel.

In the material injection step 36, the mold assembly 34 is held so that the injection position 31 determined in the assembly step 14 does not collapse, and the adhesive tape 3 at the injection position 31 is held.
The injection nozzle of the injection head 37 is pierced in 3 to inject the plastic raw material.

The adhesive tape 33 on both sides of the insertion position of the injection nozzle 38 is provided with two holes 39, 39 for bleeding air on both sides of the injection position after winding the adhesive tape and before the injection step. The injection nozzle 38 is inserted between the holes to inject the raw material. Air in the cavity escapes from the holes 39, 39 as the raw material is injected. At this time, since the raw material has viscosity, the raw material gradually flows into both sides from the center of the cavity, and the injection nozzle 3
8, the air in the space portions a on both sides of
The electrostatic capacity sensor 40 detects the time when the air is exhausted and the raw material starts to flow out from the holes 39, 39, thereby detecting the full state and stopping the injection.

Here, the function of the PC-3 will be briefly described. A personal computer (cell PC) is installed in each of the working steps of the cleaning step, the assembling step and the injecting step, and M / C control is performed. It is like this. Therefore, it is necessary to input the processing data of the corresponding lens (for example, lens center thickness setting value, lens diameter, astigmatic axis setting value, mold dimension and injection information) to each cell PC. Therefore, the manufacturing number of the bar code attached to the lens or pallet by the PC-3. The processing data can be sent to the cell PC from the corresponding block PC of the higher order with reference to. At this time, it is possible to determine the mold setting status in the cleaning process. Then, this processing data is carried over to the assembly process and the injection process. Finally, when the injection process is completed, the processing completion information is PC-3.
Sent to and the pass check is performed, block PC-1
The result is input to.

After the injection of the raw material is completed, the injection head 37 is retracted to remove the injection nozzle 38, and the puncture hole is pressed by the tape surface using a tape-shaped jig 41 as shown in FIG. Hold by means 42, light source 43 (FIG. 14)
To tentatively polymerize by irradiating light (UV irradiation). The jig 41 winds the tape 41a so that it is always pressed using a new tape surface.

When injecting the raw material, as shown in FIG. 15, particularly in the case of a lens having a thin edge thickness, the raw material is the mold 9,1.
In order to avoid erroneous detection of a filled state when it spreads on the inner surface of 0, the injection speed at the initial stage of the injection was slowed down, and the speed was increased when the raw material flow path was formed to approach the filled state. Set it so that it will be late again. The slowing of the infusion rate at the end of this infusion enhances the detection accuracy. And the control of this injection speed is P
The volume of the cavity is calculated in advance at C-3, and the servomotor for moving the valve body that adjusts the opening degree of the injection valve is controlled. At the end of injection, the injection rate is slowed at 60 to 95% of the volume of the cavity.
It is preferable to set the time when the raw materials have reached.

After the injection step 36, the mold assembly 3
4 is released, and is carried out to the next polymerization step 44.

The irradiation time of light in the polymerization step 44 is 2.5 to 4 minutes in order to secure the physical properties of the lens, of which 2
The time corresponding to minutes is performed in an atmosphere of 120 ° C. ± 10 ° C., and the irradiation direction is from both sides of the mold assembly 34.

The raw material temperature after the polymerization step 44 is 16
Since it is a high temperature of 0 ° C. or higher, and the detape and depolymerization work in the later step becomes impossible, a cooling period of about 10 minutes is set in an atmosphere of 50 ° C. to 80 ° C.

On the other hand, the tray 8 is also conveyed by the conveying means in the order in which the molds 9 and 10 are carried into the cleaning step 13, and the mold assembly 34 is returned to the tray 8 by the robot (removing step 45). .. After receiving the mold assembly 34 in the tray 8, a buffer heat-retaining step 46 for about 15 minutes is set in the atmosphere of about 50 ° C. to 80 ° C. in consideration of the speed of the manual work portion in the subsequent step. At this time, the work label 7 attached to the tray 8
And the adhesive tape 3 on the mold assembly 34
The number printed on No. 3 is checked to confirm its identity.

After the above-mentioned collation, a tape removing operation for peeling off the adhesive tape 33 and a work 47 for removing a polymer or the like which easily accumulates at the boundary between the molds 9 and 10 and the adhesive tape 33 are carried out, and then the lower mold 10 is formed. A wedge is driven between the lens 48 and the lens 48 to separate them, and the upper mold 9 is peeled from the lens 48 to take out the lens 48 (mold release step 49). Although these tape removing and releasing operations are performed manually, it is possible to automate them.

After being released in this way, the upper and lower molds 9 and 10 are the mold pallets 1 that have flowed correspondingly.
The lenses 48 which have been respectively returned to Nos. 1 and 12 are put into another lens pallet 50, and at the same time, the work label 7 attached to the tray 8 is attached to the outer surface of the lens pallet 50. The empty tray 8 is returned to the tray storage area, and the mold pallets 11 and 12 to which the molds 9 and 10 have been returned are spin-cleaned in the cleaning step 51, and at the same time, the appearance is checked and then the PC-18 is used. The mold verification is performed, and the passed product is stored in a predetermined position of the mold stocker 52.

On the other hand, in the appearance inspection step 53, the molded lens 48 is visually observed to determine the presence or absence of defects such as scratches and the presence of contaminants. If it is determined to be a defective product by this visual inspection, the defective item is keyed in on the terminal, and a reproduction instruction is given through the PC-4.

The lens 48 that has passed the visual inspection is shown in FIG.
The process is divided into the dimensional inspection process 54 shown in (1) and the system 55 to be stocked as a polished product.

In the dimension inspection step 54, the power, center thickness, prism, and astigmatic axis of the lens 48 are checked. These checks are performed by an automatic lens meter and a digital gauge. The data of the lens 48 is read and transferred to the PC-5, and the desired prescription data previously displayed (bar code display) on the work label 7 is blocked by the PC. −
1 is received, and the judgment is made by comparing with the actual measurement data in PC-5. If the product is determined to be defective in this step, a remanufacturing instruction is issued together with the defective item, and the defective item is accumulated as measurement data for technical analysis.

In this way, the lens 4 which has passed both appearance and size
Since 8 is independent of the lens pallet 50, the lens itself is marked so that the lens uniqueness can be identified. This display does not necessarily have to match the number given to the tray 8 (or the lens pallet 50) and may be any one that can be used in the work steps thereafter.

The display 48a on the lens is formed by the notch 32 formed in the upper mold 9 for injecting the raw material into the cavity of the mold assembly 34, and the shape of the notch 32 is formed on the outer periphery of the lens 48 (FIG. 18A). , (B)) is used (marking step 57). Therefore, this can be carried out by detecting the convex portion 56 by the contact type detecting means and marking the peak point as the center. In addition, the convex portion 56 may be detected by image processing and engraved. The use of a CO ₂ laser is suitable for this marking. This marking has a PC-6 higher than the bar code on the work label 7.
The value of the position (radial position) to be imprinted is received from and the imprinting is performed. This is because the position is not affected when the periphery is cut during the outer periphery shaping step 58.

After the marking is made in this manner, the peripheral portion is cut by dry or wet grinding as shown in FIG. 19 and the outer circumference is shaped to have a predetermined outer diameter. After this outer peripheral shaping is completed, pairing 59 of a pair of lenses for the right eye and the left eye is performed, whereby the lens molding step 2 is completed.

Among the molds used in the molding process of the lens, the mold for the convex surface is used in which the contour of the convex molding die portion is close to the shape of the spectacle frame. Means are included for molding lenses of substantially small diameter by combining the molds for use. [Hard Coating Step] In this embodiment, a thermosetting type hard coating liquid will be described, but it is not limited to the thermosetting type.

Lens 48 molded in molding step 2
When coating is applied, as shown in FIG. 20, a hard coat type (DC) specification product in which only a hard coat is applied before shifting to the process, and a hard multi type (DMC) specification in which a hard coat and antireflection treatment are applied. Since it is divided into products, a process selection instruction (nozzle conversion instruction) is received from the block PC-1, and in the case of DMC, the Dip slip 60 is issued.

Here, as a method for applying the hard coat liquid,
DC type is spin type, DMC type is dipping (Di
The p) method is taken as an example.

In the case of shifting to the hard coat DC step, in the lens wiping step 61, the surface of the lens is manually wiped with acetone or the like so as to eliminate the uneven UV irradiation. Next, in the UV irradiation step 62, UV irradiation is performed on the surface of the lens, and a treatment for improving the adhesion between the lens base material and the hard coat is performed. This UV irradiation is performed by a high-pressure mercury lamp, but other than this, treatment with acid, alkaline, organic solvent, plasma treatment, microwave irradiation, electron beam E
A processing method such as the processing by B may be used.

After the above processing, the spin hard coat SHC step 63 is entered. In this SHC process 63, as shown in FIG. 21 and the process layout example in FIG. 22, the concave surface of the lens is transferred from the transportation device 164 that transports the molded lens to the first tank 165 of the concave surface treatment system of the truck. Are supplied upward, and the concave surface is cleaned, modified, and surface-polished. That is, in the first tank 165, while the surface of the lens (concave side) supported by the suction pad and rotating at 500 to 1000 rpm is impregnated with the alumina-based abrasive,
400g sponge roll rotating at 00-500rpm
The surface of the lens is physically peeled off and removed by applying a certain amount of load and pressing to completely remove the dirt on the surface and the heterogeneous layer on the surface is removed to homogenize. In addition, as this treatment, it is also possible to adopt a surface peeling means by spraying abrasive grains, or a surface peeling means by eye screening for spraying dry ice or fine particles of ice. By this surface treatment, the quality of the appearance is improved, the adhesiveness of the coating layer and the dyeing property in the case where there is dyeing in the subsequent step are enhanced. The above processing conditions are selected according to the material of the lens substrate.

After the above steps are completed, the wafer is transferred to the second tank 166. In this second tank, the abrasive adhered during the processing in the first tank 165 is completely removed by scrubbing with pure water and sponge. Also for this removal, the number of rotations of the lens, the number of rotations of the sponge roll, and
It is carried out under load conditions.

Next, it is transferred to the third tank 167, and the lens is rinsed by IPA while rotating the lens in this third tank at about 500 to 1500 rpm to clean the lens surface immediately before the application of the hard coat liquid. Then 2000 rp
Spin above 3 m for 3-5 seconds to evaporate IPA.
After that, a hard coat liquid is applied and spin is applied to form a hard coat layer having a constant film thickness. When applying the hard coat liquid while applying the hard coat liquid while rotating the lens at about 500 rpm or more, a uniform film thickness layer can be formed without the hard coat liquid flowing around to the back surface of the lens. To apply the hard coat liquid, ejection from the nozzle is started near the outer periphery of the lens and the liquid is moved to the center of the lens. By doing so, bubbles in the hard coat liquid generated at the initial stage of ejection of the hard coat liquid scatter from the outer circumference of the lens due to centrifugal force, and no bubbles remain on the lens, so that the appearance and the yield are good. The hard coat liquid may be applied by a spray method other than the nozzle.

The lens to which the hard coat liquid has been applied is transferred to the jig 170 for supplying to the pre-baking furnace 169 by the transfer robot 168 as a transfer means, and here, 4
After about 5 minutes, it is transferred to the calcination furnace 169, and while being transferred in the calcination furnace 169, the temperature is about 20 to 30 at 135 ° C.
Preliminary baking is carried out for reacting and curing the hard coat liquid by heating for a minute. The heating means for this calcination is selected depending on the kind of the hard coat liquid, and there are hot air, infrared rays and the like. Other examples of the hard coat liquid include a UV curable hard coat, an EB curable hard coat, and a microwave curable hard coat. Among them, it is practical to use the UV curable hard coat. That is, when this UV-curable hard coat is used, there are less restrictions on the spin conditions at the time of applying the hard-coat liquid, as compared with the case of using a thermosetting hard coat, any number of rotations may be used, and the setting condition may be set to a high temperature. (40 to 60 ° C.) has the advantages of lowering the viscosity and making it easier to smooth the surface. Further, UV irradiation in curing is completed in 5 to 20 seconds, and there is an advantage that calcination is unnecessary.

The lens coming out of the pre-baking furnace 169 is transferred by a transfer robot 171 as a transfer means to a backward transfer device 172.
Is transferred to the transfer device 173, and is then inverted and transferred to the transfer device 173 by the transfer robot 168, and is supplied to the fourth tank 174 with its convex surface facing upward. The fourth tank 174, the fifth tank 175, and the sixth tank 176 are subjected to the same steps as those for the concave surface, transferred to the jig 170, sent to the temporary baking furnace 169, and temporarily baked.

The lens thus exiting the temporary baking furnace 169 is sent to the baking furnace (annealing furnace) 178 by the temporary baking finished product conveying device 177 through the appearance inspection 64, and enters the main baking 65 in the baking furnace 65. The main baking 65 is carried out at 135 ° C. for about 3 hours, whereby the reaction of the hard coat liquid on both surfaces of the lens is completed.

The transfer robots 168 and 171 are installed in the clean booths 179 and 180, and the apparatus related to the spin hard coat is installed in the chamber 181. 18
2 shows the entrance and exit.

On the other hand, in the case of the DMC type in which the antireflection film is formed on the surface of the hard coat, the alumina type polishing agent is used in the surface polishing step 66 as in the spin hard coat SHC as shown in FIG. Is included in a sponge and the surface is wiped off to remove and remove the lens surface. As a result, the adhered dirt that cannot be removed by the prewashing dip cleaning and the heterogeneous layer on the surface are removed. Then, in a wiping step 67, the lens is wiped with acetone or the like to remove dust and the like.

Subsequently, in a jig setting step 68, lenses are set at intervals in a jig for accommodating a predetermined number of sheets at a time, and preparation for batch processing is performed. Thus, the jig having the lens set therein is subjected to prewash 69 to clean the lens surface with a surfactant or the like, surface modification with an alkaline solution or the like, pulling up hot pure water, and drying in 13 to 16 tanks. After the prewash 69 is completed, in a Dip step 70, the lens is dipped in the hard coat liquid and pulled up to a desired film thickness by controlling the uniform speed or pulling speed.

Then, in the calcination step 71, 70 to 10
The hard coat liquid is semi-cured at a relatively low temperature of 0 ° C. (for example, hot air oven). After firing, the lens is taken out of the jig, the lens is laid flat on a pallet through an appearance inspection step 72, and the main firing step 73 is started. In this main firing step 73,
After heating at 135 ° C. for about 3 hours, the reaction of the hard coat solution is completed. This completes the hard coating step 3. If a defect occurs in the visual inspection 64 or 72, the defective item is the block PC via the PC-7 in any process of the hard coat specification (DC) and the hard coat and antireflection treatment specification (DMC). It is sent to -1, and a reproduction instruction is issued.

23, the quality assurance mark is imprinted 74 as necessary. Then, the manufacturing number, the presence / absence of dyeing, the color, the arrival information of the sample color, the presence / absence of vapor deposition, the priority of processing, the distinction between shipping and inventory, the lens diameter, the delivery date, etc. are keyed into the PC-8 and based on this A new work label 75 is issued. Then, the work label 75 is applied to the pallet 76 which flows to the subsequent steps.

Subsequently, in the frequency inspection step 77, it is measured whether or not there is a change in the frequency except for the center thickness after hard coating, and the measured data and the prescription data from PC-9 are compared to determine the frequency. A final check is made. As a result, when it is determined that the product is defective, the defective item and the measurement data are input, and a reproduction instruction is issued.

When the check of this frequency is passed, it is judged whether or not the lens has a specification requiring dyeing, whether or not the vapor deposition of the antireflection film is necessary, and whether or not the lens is in stock.
It is sorted by reading the bar code of 5.

When shifting to the dyeing step 4, dyeing sorting 78 is performed in advance. The dyeing and sorting 78 is selected according to the display of the work label 75 for DC or DMC, and the color for DC (DCC), the color for DMC (DM
CC) is selected. After this selection, color selection, dyeing time, etc. are calculated and displayed from the PC, and dyeing is performed according to the instructions. [Dyeing Step] Dyeing of a lens is performed by dispersing a disperse dye in water, adding an additive such as an auxiliary agent, and immersing the lens in a dyeing bath heated to 70 to 90 ° C. The dyeing density is proportional to the immersion time. In the case of dyeing with a predetermined color tone, toning and dyeing time are determined as standard colors, and when there is a sample color, the sample color is analyzed by a spectrophotometer to perform toning. This toning can be performed by computer-processing the data of the target color obtained by measurement with a spectrophotometer and determining an appropriate dyeing bath and dyeing time.

The dyed lens is visually inspected for color difference in step 79, and in the dyeing inspection step 80, dimensional deviation due to color loss or half dyeing (dyeing only in a half region of the lens), The appearance is checked. When it is determined that the product is defective, the defective item is keyed in to the PC-10 and a remanufacturing instruction is issued.

As for the lens which is transferred to the stock 81 system, the lens which is not dyed or vapor-deposited with the antireflection film is put into the stocking process 83 (PC-17) and stocked. This system determines the frequency with the highest order frequency and the astigmatic axis (90 °, 180 °) based on past order data when the operating rate declines when there are few orders from customers (for example, from the middle of the week to the weekend). It is predicted, and the predicted lens is built as a hard-coated lens. Immediately after receiving an order for a lens with the same prescription 8
When the goods are discharged from the container by 2 or dyeing is required, it is sent to the dyeing step 4, and the previous steps up to that point are omitted and used.

Further, in the case where the specification is such that dyeing is not required after the hard coating step 3 is completed and the anti-reflection film is required to be vapor deposited, the lens passes the dyeing step 4 and the next vapor deposition step 5 (see FIG. Move to 24). [Antireflection film vapor deposition step] In this vapor deposition step 5, whether vapor deposition is necessary or not is checked and sorting is performed based on that. It is stored and undergoes a visual inspection 85. If the appearance inspection 85 determines that the product is defective, the defective item is keyed into the PC-11 and a remanufacturing instruction is issued.

The lens that passed the visual inspection is set on the dome 86 and vapor-deposited in the vacuum chamber. This vapor deposition is performed in the order of the concave vapor deposition 87, the return set 88, and the convex vapor deposition 89, and this chamber uses either a 5-tank type or a 3-tank type. In the case of the 5-tank type, as shown in FIG. 25, the roughing chamber 90, the concave surface deposition chamber 9
1, a return chamber 92, a convex vapor deposition chamber 93, and a take-out chamber 94. In the case of the three-tank type, as shown in FIG. 26, a roughing chamber 95, a double-sided vapor deposition chamber 96, and a take-out chamber 97. 10 ^{-4 in the} roughing chamber
It is about Torr and about 10 ⁻⁵ Torr in the vapor deposition chamber, and the film thickness is controlled by controlling the amount of reflected light. The 5-tank type has an inversion mechanism that automatically inverts the lens on the dome 86. This inversion mechanism
As shown in part in FIG. 27, for example, two lenses are
A holder 98, which is held as a set, is supported by the central shaft 99 in a reversible manner on the dome 86, and a reversing projection 100 is provided on the holder 98. When the vapor deposition on one surface of the lens is completed, the rotation speed of the dome 86 is adjusted. It is dropped for about 30 seconds / revolution, the reversing cylinder 101 (FIG. 28) is pushed from the outside of the chamber to push the reversing projection 100, and when it is rotated 90 ° or more, it is reversed by its own weight. After confirming that the dome 86 has rotated one rotation or more, the cylinder 101 is shortened.

After the vapor deposition is completed, the interference color inspection 102 is performed by the PC-11. If it is determined that the product is defective, the defective item is input and a remanufacturing instruction is issued.

The lens that has passed the interference color inspection 102 is put into the basket 85 again, and the CF processing 103 is performed. The CF process is a batch process in which firing (processing with hot air of about 50 ° C. for 15 to 20 minutes) is performed, cleaning is performed, and the process proceeds to the color difference inspection 104. In the color difference inspection 104, whether or not the coating is removed by the prewashing process is performed by using a spectrophotometer, and PC-
12, the required transmission amount and the transmission amount due to color loss are compared and checked. If it is determined that the product is defective, the measurement data by the spectrophotometer, the requested color data (including the sample color data), and the defective item are keyed in, and a rework (return to the pre-dyeing process) instruction is issued. ..

Lenses that have passed this color difference inspection 104 are
The process moves to the final outer diameter inspection 105, where the final appearance inspection is performed. The inspection result is keyed into the PC-13, and in the case of a defective product, a defective item is input. Among the non-defective products that have passed this final inspection, the shipped products are thereafter sent to the packaging bag printing process.

On the other hand, when the process proceeds to the dyeing step 4, if the lens has a specification without dyeing, it is housed in a pair in a case 106 in a flat state, and the final appearance inspection 1 described above is performed.
It is turned to 05.

The lens that has undergone the final visual inspection 105 is
It is sorted into a system for immediate shipment and a system for stock 107. The system leading to this stock 107 is prepared for shipment when the operating rate decreases, as in the case of the end stage of the hard coating process 3 described above.

With the above, all the lens manufacturing steps are completed,
Enter the packaging process. [Packaging Step] In this packaging step 108, the required printing 110 is applied to the printer 11 on the outer bag 109 in which the left and right lenses are put.
1 is applied to the lens, and the lens is subjected to horizontal line printing 112 in the diametrical direction, which is a guide when the frame is fitted and cut.
Then, the lens and the outer bag 109 are collated 113, and the lenses are stored as a pair. Then, sorting and packaging 114
Then, the shipping process 115 (PC-14) is performed and the product is shipped. In the shipping processing 115, the PC-14 checks whether or not a predetermined product is shipped to a predetermined destination.

On the other hand, the stock 107 system is subjected to a warehousing process 118 as a stock product through a wading package 117 (packaging for each lens). This wadding package 1
The print data from the PC-16 is received by the printer 17, and the print data is printed on the bag 119 by the wading packaging machine based on the print data. The content of the print is printed as a bar code type such as a manufacturing date, a product name, a frequency (SC axis, addition degree), presence or absence of vapor deposition.

A polishing step 121 (FIG. 29) after the lens molding step 2 is to make a lens molded in the lens molding step 2 into a spectacle lens by polishing the blank, which is managed by the block PC-2. , A work label 122 on which a predetermined specification is printed by reading a barcode is issued from the label printer 123 (work slip issue 124), and at the same time, a confirmation drawing 125 of SS processing (processing specification into a shape close to a spectacle frame) is given. Be done.

According to the contents of the work label 122, the payout 12 of blanks 126, 126 conforming to the contents
7 is performed, the surface of the blank is blocked 128 by tape attachment, and the outer diameter of the specified outer diameter is 1
29 is performed. Next, the CG cut 130, the smoothing 131, and the polishing 132 are performed, and then the deblocking 13 is performed.
At 3, the block is released, and if necessary, chamfering 134 is performed for cleaning 135 and lens marking 136. Then, the dimension inspection 137, the blurring inspection 138, and the outer diameter inspection 139 are checked through the PC-15 and supplied to the above-described marking step 57 or the pairing 59 after that.

In this embodiment, four block PCs for process communication are provided in order to reduce the load on the host computer.
, And a plurality of PCs for communication control are placed under it to achieve vertical distribution. However, if the capacity of the host computer is large enough, the host computer is connected to each terminal placed in the work process. It is also possible to directly access the data in the host computer. Further, instead of the above-mentioned device configuration, an engineering workstation (EWS) is connected by a local area network (LAN), and the EWS accesses a data storage data server provided in the LAN to obtain predetermined data. You can

In any case, the data provided is the latest update data, and the host computer always manages the accumulation of manufacturing data of newly ordered products, the updating of setting data, and the deletion of manufacturing data after completion of processing. It is made possible.

Further, the host computer accumulates defective item data and the like generated in each process, and can collect data for technical analysis for reviewing materials used and work procedures. Also, hard coating process 3,
The dyeing process 4 and the antireflection film vapor deposition process 5 can be arranged in any order, not necessarily in the order of the embodiments, and the same applies to the other processes. By arranging the order of this step according to the reference numerals used in the above embodiment, a combination as shown in FIG. 30 can be realized.

[0080]

As described above, according to the present invention, prescription data or option data obtained from a customer is input to a computer and converted into processing information, and each manufacturing process is managed based on the processed prescription data. In the case of a specification that requires a hard coat in a line that is manufactured by integrated production, the hard coat on both the concave and convex sides of the lens is performed individually in a single calcining furnace to give the best hard coat on both sides. It can be applied, and its implementation device can be installed in a small space, and the space occupied in the entire line can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a manufacturing process of a plastic lens for eyeglasses according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a process drawing showing details of a lens molding process in FIG.

3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of contents of display data of a work label used in FIG. 2. FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing one means for cleaning the peripheral surface of the mold in the cleaning process of FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing one means of surface cleaning.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an IPA applied state.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a state where the mold is inverted and supported.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing the number of rotations and the time during IPA application and spin drying.

9A to 9F are explanatory views showing an example of the mold assembling process of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the positional relationship between the upper and lower molds in each step of FIG.

11A and 11B are explanatory views showing the astigmatic axis detection indexes of the upper and lower molds.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a notch formed in the upper mold.

FIG. 13 is a front view showing an example of a plastic material injection head.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a plastic material is injected into a mold assembly by an injection head.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing an internal condition when viewed from the front.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory view showing one means for sealing the injection port after injecting the plastic raw material.

FIG. 17 is a process drawing showing a process after the lens molding process.

18A and 18B are front views showing a positional relationship of marking on a molded lens.

FIG. 19 is a front view showing the lens after peripheral shaping.

FIG. 20 is a process chart showing details of the hard coating process.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing details of the spin hard coating process contents in FIG. 20.

FIG. 22 is a plan view showing an example of the apparatus.

FIG. 23 is a process drawing showing details of a dyeing process that is transferred from the hard coating process.

FIG. 24 is a process diagram showing details of an antireflection film deposition process and a packaging process.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram showing the contents when the vapor deposition chamber in FIG. 24 is five tanks.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram showing the contents in the case of three tanks.

FIG. 27 is a partial plan view showing an example of the inversion mechanism of the lens holder on the dome.

FIG. 28 is a side view of the same.

FIG. 29 is a process drawing showing a polishing process when a polishing blank is molded in the lens molding process.

FIG. 30 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a layout change of each process of FIG. 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Host Computer 2 Lens Forming Process 3 Hard Coating Process 4 Dyeing Process 5 Antireflection Film Deposition Process 7,75 Work Label 8 Tray 9 Upper Mold 10 Lower Mold 11, 12 Model Pallet 15,17 Sponge Roll 16 Chuck 22 Positioning Unit 23, 24 Mold Holding Tool 25, 26 Mold Cradle 27, 28 Centering Tool 31 Raw Material Injection Position 32 Notch 33 Adhesive Tape 34 Mold Assembly 37 Injection Head 39 Injection Nozzle 40 Detection Sensor 41 Pressing Tool 48 Molded Lens 50 Lens Pallet 52 Mold stocker 56 Convex portion 60 Dip slip 63 Spin hard coating process 76 Pallet 85 Basket 86 Dome 109 Outer bag 117 Wading packaging bag 168 Transfer robot 169 Temporary firing furnace 170 Temporary firing jig 17 1 Transfer Robot 172 Return Passage Transfer Device 178 Baking Furnace (Annealing Furnace)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a plastic lens for spectacles, which includes a step of molding a lens corresponding to the prescription data with a light or thermosetting plastic material based on the prescription data of a customer and performing a hard coating process on the molded lens. In the above, after passing through a cleaning step of cleaning the molded lens on one surface thereof, a hard coating solution application step of applying a hard coating solution, and a temporary baking step of temporarily baking the hard coating solution, the other surface Eyeglasses characterized by returning to the cleaning process for use with the lens and reversing the lens to pass the lens through the cleaning process for the other surface, the hard coat liquid coating process, the calcination process, and then the main baking through the baking furnace. Hard coating method for manufacturing plastic lenses for automobiles. 2. A concave surface treatment system and a convex surface of a lens for performing a cleaning process and a hard coat liquid applying process of a lens molded corresponding to the prescription data by a light or thermosetting plastic material based on the prescription data of the customer. 2 with the processing system
The paths are arranged side by side, and the return path transport device that returns the lens whose one surface is temporarily baked in the temporary baking furnace for temporarily baking after applying the hard coat liquid to the cleaning process for the other surface, and the lens after the hard coat liquid is applied temporarily Eyeglasses characterized by comprising a transfer means for transferring to a temporary baking jig for loading into a baking furnace, and a transfer means for transferring a lens that has been temporarily baked on one surface to the return path transport device. Coating equipment in the manufacture of plastic lenses for automobiles.