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Development of a Mechanical Actuator for Active Lenses
Author(s) -
Vargas Angela C.,
Picciani Paulo H.,
Michel Ricardo C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.201300182
Subject(s) - actuator , voice coil , lens (geology) , electromagnetic coil , focus (optics) , focal length , shape change , materials science , optics , computer science , acoustics , physics , engineering , artificial intelligence , electrical engineering , evolutionary biology , biology
Summary Variable focus lenses can vary their shape and consequently their focus when a stimulus is applied. This kind of lenses, on some applications, has advantages over the regular lenses because of their smaller size and weight. Different types of stimulus can be used to change the shape of these lenses; the element that applies the stimulus is called actuator. Lenses deformed by a mechanical force are interesting devices that work in a way similar to human eyes. The muscles around a human eye compress or relax its lens every time a focus change is needed. On this paper we describe a voice coil actuator that applies mechanical force over a flexible polymeric lens, changing its shape and consequently its focus. The applied force, the deformation of the lens and its convergence power are functions of the driving current in the voice coil actuator. The maximum force applied by the actuator is 0.48N. The convergence power is also dependent of optical and viscoelastic properties of the lens material.