production methods
A variety of production method
Fresnel Factory Inc. has five methods of production know-how.
Normal Fresnel lenses are made by hot-press. However, it is difficult to respond to a variety of applications with a single production method. Because every production method has its own pros and cons. So, after consulting our customer's purpose, Fresnel Factory Inc. offers suggestions from five of the following production methods:
5 Production methods of Fresnel Factory Inc.
- Hot-press
- Injection
- Casting
- Roll-to-Roll
- Hot-embossing
It's the most common form of production for Fresnel lenses. The polymers are heated and then pressed into mold to form a lens. After cooling, the deformed lenses and its unnecessary outer edges are removed by using a laser cutter.
The advantage of a hot press is that the tip and Valley radius of the lenses are low and the roughness is good. It is also suitable for small production because it has little setup time for production or loss of materials for production process.
It is suitable for small production of less than 20,000 units per year or for development stages of research institutes and corporate research institutes.
For injection method, the initial mold production cost is higher than Hot-press. However, there are advantages to high hourly production and relatively low production costs. It also has the advantage of being able to feature a variety of instruments, such as a Dome shape, which is not possible with other production methods. Therefore, the injection method is applied to small lenses that are combined with various instrument types, such as PIR fresnel. However, it does have a disadvantage which is that the precision of the tip radius of the prism is lower than that of hot-pressing.
This is a suitable method for production of small precision lenses, such as hot-pressing. Even in the Fresnel Factory, this technology is still at the prototyping level. This technology can only produce sheet type lenses. The advantage is that the optical properties of the material are good because it uses a high purity liquid PMMA. This technology is suitable for making larger lenses that are larger than 32 inches rather than smaller lenses.
- Roll-to-Roll
The Roll-to-Roll method is a very suitable method for mass production of lenses in the form of Film. It is produced in a width of 1520mm and is infinite in length. Typically, UV Resin with different refractive index is molded on PET film using a Roll type mold and cured with UV to create a lens. Daylight films from Fresnel Factory are also produced in this way.
- Hot-embossing
This is a Roll-to-Roll method but it creates a lens using PMMA or PC fabric, not with UV Resin. The ability to use a single material eliminates the need to worry about refractive index of various materials. It also has the advantage of creating high prism precision just as hot-pressing. Most of the Lenticular and MLA in the Fresnel Factory are produced in this way.