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Radius
75 mm
75 mm

Optics design
−8.00D
Spheric

Material
Steel
Steel

The injection molding process may be modified further to include high-speed injection-compression molding and a mold temperature with a heating and cooling cycle. This modified process may provide myriad characteristics of the removable optical patch 100 for optical applications, including, but not limited to: 1) thin, 2) soft, 3) tacky, and 4) patterned with a microstructure. These properties, their challenges in view of a traditional injection molding process, and the solution provided by the modified injection molding process, are summarized in Table 4.

TABLE 4

Part design
Challenges
Solutions

Thin thickness, 0.5-1 mm
Very high flow resistance
High injection speed and pressure

Soft to conform to lens curvature
Poor integrity, hard to be ejected
Cold mold for part ejection

Tacky to put on lens w/o glue
Sticky to insert, hard to be ejected
Cold mold for part ejecting

Fresnel microstructure
Melt can't flow into sharp corners of
Injection compression;

microstructures
Heat-cool molding cycle

The modified injection molding process parameters are summarized in Table 5.

TABLE 5

Parameter
Value

Injection speed
1.50
inch/s

Injection pressure
25,000
psi

Back pressure
500
psi

Barrel temperature
430°
F.

Mold temperature
100°
F.

Cycle time
405
s

Mokon thermolator heating temp.
155
F.

Mokon thermolator cooling temp.
104°
F.

Heat/Cool switching sequence
Switch Mokon from heat to cool

when cooling time has 350 seconds

left then back to heat with 40

seconds remaining in cycle.

FIG. 3C shows a cross sectional schematic of a protective layer 210, useful within the scope of the present disclosure. The protective layer 210 may include a plurality of protective structures 215. The plurality of protective structures 215 may have a dimensional height 220 and may be separated by a distance such that each structure of the plurality of protective structures 215 is aligned with a corresponding area of the microstructure pattern 205 defined by the predetermined distance 206 between adjacent microlenses or Fresnel microstructures of the microstructure pattern 205. Presented as having a rectangular shape in FIG. 3C, the plurality of protective structures 215 may have a variety of cross sectional shapes, including hemispherical, aspherical, rectangular, cylindrical, pyramidal, circular, elliptical, prismatic, and triangular, among others, as dictated by the shape of the area defined by the predetermined distance 206. When coupled together, the plurality of protective structures 215 may arrange complementary to the arrangement of the optical microstructures of the microstructure pattern 205, thereby protecting the optical microstructures while not impeding their function. The protective layer 210 may be included with the removable optical patch 100 to protect the microstructure pattern 205 and increasing durability. Furthermore, the plurality of protective structures 215 may be disposed on a first surface, and a second surface opposite the first surface may be smooth. Upon coupling the protective layer 210, the removable optical patch 100 may then have two smooth sides along an exterior of the removable optical patch 100 to which the removable optical patch 100 may be applied to the lens 110.

Further inventive apparatuses include the first dye (or second dye, third dye, etc. when more than one dye is used) in the protective layer 210, thus allowing a modular configuration for the removable optical patch 100. That is, multiple additional protective layers 210 may be produced including multiple different absorbance and transmission properties (via varying inclusion of the myriad dye and microstructure patterns 205) to allow the user to tailor the stacking of the multiple layers in the removable optical patch 100 to achieve a desired optical effect. The protective layer 210 may include fiduciary markers to aid the user in aligning the desired layers to ensure optimal optical integration between said layers.

EXAMPLES

EXAMPLE 1—“Chrono cut” dye P491 was mixed with TPU Texin Sun 3006 at 72 ppm and injection molded into the removable optical patch 100 including Fresnel microstructures using the modified injection molding process described above. High replication quality of the Fresnel microstructures was achieved. FIG. 4A shows a graph comparing the “Chrono cut” removable optical patch 100 as compared to a clear patch with a distinct absorbance peak at approximately 495 nm.