Electro-active ophthalmic device satisfying a prescription for 5 power correction(s), manufacturing method and use of a semi-finished hybrid lens

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023185112-A1
Application number	US-202218063770-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 9, 2022
Priority date	Dec 10, 2021
Publication date	Jun 15, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

The invention relates to an ophthalmic device (1) satisfying a prescription for at least one power correction for a wearer, to a method for manufacturing it and to a use of a semi-finished hybrid ophthalmic lens.The device comprises at least one electro-active cell (3) which comprises a rear shell (4) and a front shell (5) defining for the device a backside surface and an opposite front surface, the shells (4 and 5) being provided with transparent electrodes and delimiting a sealed cavity.According to the invention, the rear shell (4) derives from a semi-finished hybrid ophthalmic lens comprising:a front mineral part having a first mineral face proximal to the front shell (5) and a second mineral face opposite to the first mineral face, anda rear plastic part attached to the front mineral part, the rear plastic part having a front plastic face bonded to said second mineral face and an unsurfaced rear plastic face which defines said backside surface and is configured to impart said prescription to the ophthalmic device, after surfacing said semi-finished hybrid ophthalmic lens.

First claim

1 . Ophthalmic device intended for a wearer and satisfying a prescription for at least one power correction and optionally astigmatism for the wearer, comprising at least one electro-active cell which comprises a rear shell and a front shell respectively defining for the ophthalmic device a backside surface proximal to at least one eye of the wearer and an opposite front surface, the rear shell and the front shell being provided with at least one pair of transparent electrodes and delimiting a sealed cavity,
wherein the rear shell derives from a semi-finished hybrid ophthalmic lens comprising:
a front mineral part having a first mineral face proximal to the front shell and a second mineral face opposite to the first mineral face, and
a rear plastic part attached to the front mineral part, the rear plastic part having a front plastic face bonded to said second mineral face and an unsurfaced rear plastic face which defines said backside surface and is configured to impart said prescription to the ophthalmic device, after surfacing said semi-finished hybrid ophthalmic lens.

2 . Ophthalmic device according to claim 1 , wherein said front mineral part comprises a mineral glass substrate, and wherein said rear plastic part forms an ophthalmic lens blank comprising a plastic transparent substrate which defines said front plastic face and which is based on at least one organic polymer selected from thermoplastic, thermosetting and photo-cured polymers.

3 . Ophthalmic device according to claim 2 , wherein said rear plastic part has said front plastic face which is unsurfaced.

4 . Ophthalmic device according to claim 2 , wherein in the rear shell, said rear plastic part is chemically bonded to said front mineral part without adhesive means therebetween.

5 . Ophthalmic device according to claim 4 , wherein in the rear shell, said rear plastic part is:
(i) injection molded directly over said front mineral part, said plastic transparent substrate being a thermoplastic polymer which is for example selected from (meth)acrylic (co)polymers, triacetate of cellulose (TAC), polyesters, copolyesters, polycarbonate (PC), cyclic olefin copolymers (COC), cyclic olefin polymers (COP), and multilayer films of at least one of these polymers, and/or of at least one of a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl alcohol (EVOH), a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), a polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE), a polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) and a polyamide (PA), or (ii) cast directly over said front mineral part, said plastic transparent substrate being a thermosetting or photo-cured polymer for example selected from polyurethanes, polyurethane/polyureas, polythiourethanes, polyol(allyl carbonate) (co)polymers, polyepisulfides and polyepoxides.

6 . Ophthalmic device according to claim 2 , wherein said rear plastic part is attached to said front mineral part with adhesive means, by gluing under gravity or under pressure.

7 . Ophthalmic device according to claim 6 , wherein said plastic transparent substrate is based on a thermoplastic polymer and said adhesive means is selected from liquid glues, pressure sensitive adhesives and photocurable adhesives for example comprising, in case the thermoplastic polymer is a polycarbonate:
a) at least one urethane acrylate oligomer in an amount ranging from about 50 to about 75 wt. %; b) at least one alkyl acrylate or diacrylate monomer in an amount ranging from about 10 to about 25 wt.%; c) at least one hydroxy-functional acrylic monomer in an amount ranging from about 8 to about 25 wt.%; and d) at least one free-radical generating initiator in an amount ranging from about 5 to about 9.5 wt%.

8 . Ophthalmic device according to claim 1 , wherein the rear shell is coated:
(i) on said first mineral face, with an electrically conductive layer which forms an electrode of said at least one pair of transparent electrodes and is made of at least one of:
a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) deposited by sputtering for example selected from ATO (AISnO), ATZO (AISnZnO), AZO (AIZnO), FTO (FSnO), GZO (GaZnO), ITO (InSnO), ITZO (InSnZnO), IZO (InZnO) and mixtures thereof,
a deformable electrically conductive nanostructure comprising a metal and for example selected from nanomeshes, nanowires, nanotubes and nanogrids, and
a stack of insulator layer (I1) - metal layer (M) - insulator layer (I2), where M is for example silver, gold of copper and where I1 is equal to or different from I2,
the insulator layer (I2) in contact with the electrochromic composition comprising a TCO such as ITO, and the other insulator layer (I1) comprising a TCO such as ITO, or being a nonconductive layer for example able to increase light transmission through the stack or able to form a barrier layer, said electrically conductive layer preferably comprising a high temperature ITO; and/or (ii) on said backside surface, with a hardcoat which is itself preferably coated with an antireflective coating.

9 . Ophthalmic device according to claim 1 , wherein the front shell comprises a mineral glass substrate and has a mineral rear surface opposite to said front surface of the front shell,
wherein said mineral rear surface of the front shell which is concave and said first mineral face of the rear shell which is convex are curved with identical curvatures including at least one of a cylindrical, toric and spherical curvature, wherein the rear shell and the front shell are distant from each other by a distance of 10 µm to 400 µm, for example of 20 to 250 µm, forming a gap defining said sealed cavity which is delimited at a periphery thereof by an adhesive seal.

10 . Ophthalmic device according to claim 9 , wherein the ophthalmic device forms at least one electro-active lens for example selected from variable-power lenses and electrochromic lenses, and includes augmented reality eyeglasses, virtual reality eyeglasses and electro-focus tunable lenses.

11 . Method for manufacturing an ophthalmic device according to claim 1 , wherein the method essentially comprises the following steps:
a) manufacturing said semi-finished hybrid ophthalmic lens by attaching said rear plastic part having said unsurfaced rear plastic face to said front mineral part; b) surfacing said semi-finished hybrid ophthalmic lens, to impart said prescription to said unsurfaced rear plastic face for obtaining said backside surface; and c) assembling said at least one electro-active cell by joining together the front shell and the rear shell comprising the semi-finished hybrid ophthalmic lens once surfaced.

12 . Manufacturing method according to claim 11 , wherein attaching said rear plastic part to said front mineral part in step a) is implemented by one of the following:
(i) injection molding directly over said front mineral part, a thermoplastic transparent substrate of said rear plastic part which may be devoid of a polycarbonate, (ii) casting directly over said front mineral part, a transparent thermosetting or photo-cured substrate of said rear plastic part, and (iii) attaching a thermoplastic transparent substrate of said rear plastic part to said front mineral part with adhesive means selected from liquid glues, pressure sensitive adhesives and photocurable adhesives, for example by gluing under gravity or under pressure by a photocurable adhesive by:
a0) applying the photocurable adhesive to respective faces of said thermoplastic transparent substrate and of said front mineral part;
a1) gluing the respective faces of the thermoplastic transparent substrate and of the front mineral part, which is horizontally surmounted by the thermoplastic transparent substrate, by gravity or under pressure; and
a2) applying at least one radiat

Assignees

• Essilor Int

Inventors

• Meynen Mathieu
• Uhalte Nogues Sira
• Monvoisin Antoine
• Habassi Chafik

Classifications

• B29D11/00807

  Producing lenses combined with electronics, e.g. chips · CPC title

• G02B1/041

  Lenses · CPC title

• G02C7/083 Primary

  Electrooptic lenses · CPC title

• B29D11/00009

  Production of simple or compound lenses · CPC title

• B29D11/00413

  made by moulding between two mould parts which are not in direct contact with one another, e.g. comprising a seal between or on the edges (B29D11/00019 - B29D11/00355, B29D11/00423, B29D11/00432 take precedence) · CPC title