Process for the production of an optical element from glass

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11708289-B2
Application number	US-202117532046-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2021
Priority date	Dec 3, 2020
Publication date	Jul 25, 2023
Grant date	Jul 25, 2023

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for producing an optical element ( 202 ), wherein a blank of transparent material is heated and/or provided and, after heating and/or after being provided between a first mold (UF) and at least one second mold (OF), is press molded to form the optical element ( 202 ), in particular on both sides, and is then sprayed with a surface treatment agent.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of producing a headlight lens, the method comprising:
heating a blank made of soda-lime glass;
providing a surface-treatment agent which comprises a solvent and a solid dissolved in the solvent, wherein the solid comprises at least one solid from the group consisting of aluminum, aluminum chloride, aqueous aluminum chloride, aluminum salt, fatty-acid aluminum salts, phosphate, potassium phosphate, sodium phosphate, KO 2 , KOH, KNO 3 , silicate, SiO 2 , potassium silicate and potassium;
providing a gas;
generating a spray mist by thoroughly mixing the surface-treatment agent with the gas;
providing a first mold;
providing at least a second mold;
providing a cooling path;
press-molding the heated blank to form a headlight lens having at least a first optically active surface by means of the first mold and the at least a second mold;
spraying the at least first optically active surface with the spray mist; and
cooling the headlight lens in accordance with a cooling regime in the cooling path by adding heat.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the solid comprises fatty-acid aluminum salts.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the solid comprises phosphate.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the gas comprises compressed air.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises, based on the total mass of the surface-treatment agent, 25 to 65 wt. % water, 30 to 70 wt. % potassium phosphate, 1 to 8 wt. % sodium phosphate and 0.001 to 0.010 wt. % aluminum, wherein the constituents do not add up to more than 100%.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises, based on the total mass of the surface-treatment agent, 25 to 65 wt. % water.

7. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises, based on the total mass of the surface-treatment agent, 30 to 70 wt. % potassium phosphate.

8. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the temperature of the optically active surface during spraying with surface-treatment agent is no less than TG and no greater than TG+150 K, wherein TG denotes the glass transition temperature.

9. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the temperature of the optically active surface during spraying with surface-treatment agent is no less than TG+20 K and no greater than TG+150 K, wherein TG denotes the glass transition temperature.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises, based on the total mass of the surface-treatment agent, 25 to 65 wt. % water, 30 to 70 wt. % potassium phosphate, 1 to 8 wt. % sodium phosphate and 0.001 to 0.010 wt. % aluminum, wherein the constituents do not add up to more than 100%.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises, based on the total mass of the surface-treatment agent, 25 to 65 wt. % water.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the temperature of the optically active surface during spraying with surface-treatment agent is no less than TG and no greater than TG+150 K, wherein TG denotes the glass transition temperature of the soda-lime glass.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the temperature of the optically active surface during spraying with surface-treatment agent is no less than TG+20 K and no greater than TG+150 K, wherein TG denotes the glass transition temperature of the soda-lime glass.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises, based on the total mass of the surface-treatment agent, 30 to 70 wt. % potassium phosphate.

15. A method of producing a headlight lens, the method comprising:
providing a heated blank made of soda-lime glass;
providing a solvent;
providing a solid;
providing a gas;
dissolving the solid in the solvent;
then generating a sulfur-comprising spray mist by thoroughly mixing the solvent with the gas;
providing a first mold;
providing at least a second mold;
providing a cooling path;
press-molding the heated blank to form a headlight lens having at least a first optically active surface using the first mold and the at least second mold;
spraying the first optically active surface with the spray mist; and
cooling the headlight lens in accordance with a cooling regime in the cooling path with addition of heat.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises water.

17. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises, based on the total mass of the surface-treatment agent, 25 to 65 wt. % water.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the temperature of the optically active surface during spraying with surface-treatment agent is no less than TG+20 K and no greater than TG+150 K, wherein TG denotes the glass transition temperature of the soda-lime glass.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the surface-treatment agent forms droplets, of which the average diameter is no greater than 50 μm.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein the optically active surface is sprayed for no longer than 4 seconds.

21. A method of producing an optical element, the method comprising:
heating a blank made of glass;
providing a surface-treatment agent which comprises a solvent and a solid dissolved in the solvent, wherein the solid comprises at least one solid from the group consisting of fatty-acid aluminum salts and phosphate;
providing compressed air;
providing a mixing nozzle;
generating a spray mist using the mixing nozzle to mix the surface-treatment agent with the compressed air;
providing a first mold;
providing at least a second mold;
press-molding the heated blank to form an optical element having a first optically active surface using the first mold and the at least second mold;
spraying the at least first optically active surface with the spray mist; and
cooling the optical element in accordance with a cooling regime with addition of heat.

22. The method according to claim 21 , wherein the temperature of the optically active surface during spraying with surface-treatment agent is no less than TG+20 K and no greater than TG+150 K, wherein TG denotes the glass transition temperature of the glass.

23. The method according to claim 22 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises, based on the total mass of the surface-treatment agent, 25 to 65 wt. % water, 30 to 70 wt. % potassium phosphate, 1 to 8 wt. % sodium phosphate and 0.001 to 0.010 wt. % aluminum, wherein the constituents do not add up to more than 100%.

24. The method according to claim 22 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises, based on the total mass of the surface-treatment agent, 25 to 65 wt. % water.

25. The method according to claim 22 , wherein the surface-treatment agent comprises, based on the total mass of the surface-treatment agent, 30 to 70 wt. % potassium phosphate.

26. The method according to claim 23 , wherein the surface-treatment agent forms droplets in the spray mist, of which the average diameter is no greater than 50 μm.

27. The method according to claim 26 , wherein the optically active surface is sprayed for no longer than 4 seconds.

28. The method according to claim 21 , wherein the solid comprises fatty-acid aluminum salts.

Assignees

• Docter Optics Se

Inventors

• Dittmann Christoph
• Kuppe Alexander
• Diatta Annegret
• Polle Ralf
• Schnoor Toni
• Fröhlich Sven

Classifications

• C03B19/025 Primary

  by injection moulding, e.g. extrusion · CPC title

• C03C21/007 Primary

  in gaseous phase · CPC title

• F21S41/25

  Projection lenses · CPC title

• C03C23/008

  comprising a lixiviation step · CPC title

• C03C23/007

  by thermal treatment · CPC title