SBIR Phase II: Development of high-volume manufacturing processes for variable focus TAG Lens technology

SBIR 第二阶段：开发可变焦 TAG 镜头技术的大批量制造工艺

• 批准号: 1431015
• 负责人: Christian Theriault
• 金额: $ 75万
• 依托单位: TAG Optics, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-10-01 至 2017-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1431015&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Development; volume

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in developing the world?s first ultra-high-speed variable focus optical lens that can be fully mass-produced with low manufacturing costs and high yield. The company?s proprietary tunable acoustic gradient lens technology provides versatile solutions for unmet market needs across multiple sectors, including health, security, and manufacturing. While valuable as an add-on to existing systems for imaging and processing applications, its use can be extended to other applications such as point of care medical diagnostic imaging and consumer optics/electronics. The proposed second generation lens is expected to grow the existing market for variable focus optical lens by a factor of 5 to 10 and help transform this small business into a major original equipment components manufacturer and supplier.This project seeks to engineer a high volume manufacturing process that will increase product yield, reproducibility, and reliability for a novel ultra-high-speed variable focus device. The company?s patented tunable acoustic gradient lens technology uses sound to shape light, which enables the change of focal position without any moving parts at rates that are 3 orders of magnitude faster than competing technologies. The innovation is based on propagation of sound waves that can be controlled by the modification of the index of refraction by piezoelectric elements within the liquid lens. Phase II plan is focused on engineering and optimizing new lens designs that preserve the fundamental functionality and benefits of the first generation lens while also capturing the unique and industry leading benefits of the company's core technology. It also includes semi-automated prototype fabrication, careful system optimization, analysis and testing that pave the path to a next generation product that can be scaled up for mass-production.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是在发展中国家？这是世界上第一个能够以低制造成本和高成品率完全批量生产的超高速变焦光学透镜。公司？公司专有的可调声学梯度透镜技术为医疗、安全和制造等多个领域未满足的市场需求提供了多功能解决方案。虽然作为现有成像和处理应用系统的附加组件是有价值的，但其用途可以扩展到其他应用，例如护理点医疗诊断成像和消费光学/电子产品。 第二代透镜的开发，将使现有的变焦光学透镜市场扩大5 ~ 10倍，并使该小型企业转型为主要的原始设备零部件制造商和供应商。该项目旨在设计一种大批量生产工艺，以提高新型超高速变焦装置的成品率、再现性和可靠性。 公司？的专利可调声学梯度透镜技术利用声音来塑造光线，这使得焦点位置的变化没有任何移动部件，速度比竞争技术快3个数量级。 该创新基于声波的传播，该声波的传播可以通过液体透镜内的压电元件对折射率的修改来控制。第二阶段计划的重点是设计和优化新的透镜设计，保留第一代透镜的基本功能和优势，同时也捕捉公司核心技术的独特和行业领先的优势。它还包括半自动化原型制造，仔细的系统优化，分析和测试，为下一代产品铺平道路，可以扩大规模进行大规模生产。