A casting mold (1) for the manufacture of ophthalmic lenses, in particular hard and soft contact lenses comprises a male mold half (2) having a generally convexly shaped male mold surface (20) and a female mold half having a generally concavely shaped female mold surface (30). Each of the male and female mold surfaces comprises a lens-forming surface (21, 31) which is encircled by a non lens-forming annular edge surface (22, 32). The lens-forming surface (21, 31) comprises a central optical zone (210, 310) and a non-optical peripheral zone (211, 311) surrounding the central optical zone. At least one of the male and female mold halves (2, 3) is provided with at least one permanent marking (10; 11; 12; 110, 111) which is arranged on a surface in the peripheral zone (211, 311) of the lens-forming surface (21, 31) and/or on the non lens-forming annular edge surface (22, 32).

A method of manufacturing an ophthalmic lens using a first mold portion and a puck assembly. The puck assembly comprises a carrier puck. The puck assembly supports at least one of the first mold portion and the lens during at least two of the following ophthalmic lens manufacturing steps: assembling the first mold portion and a second mold portion into a mold assembly including a lens-defining cavity containing a lens precursor material; curing the lens precursor material in the mold assembly to form a lens; separating the mold assembly such that the lens remains attached to the first mold portion; detaching the lens from the first mold portion; extracting unwanted material from the lens; hydrating the lens; inspecting the lens, and packaging the lens.

A method of manufacturing of an astigmatic contact lens having a toric portion and a ballast portion such that said ballast portion causes the toric portion of the contact lens to properly orient in the eye of the wearer. The toric lenses are manufactured by an effective process control method for cylinder axis angle in toric lens production by modifying the target cylinder angle for mold rotation by eliminating the accumulative cylinder axis error from all previous steps including tool making, tool assembly, and molding. The amount modifying the target angle is determined by accurately determine the true cylinder axis on the corresponding mold by using a high-resolution interferometer, such as FISBA FS10M or equivalent models from Trioptics Shape vertical series.

A manufacturing module (MM) for contact lenses comprises a plurality of manufacturing stations (300, 301, 302, 310, 320, 321, 322, 330, 331, 340, 341, 342, 350, 351, 352) arranged in a closed loop and a plurality of lens mold carriers (1, 2) which are transported through the manufacturing stations. Each lens mold carrier (1, 2) comprises a frame (10, 20) having a predetermined number of mounting sites (100, 200) arranged along the frame. Each lens mold carrier (1, 2) further comprises a predetermined number of molds (112, 212) removably mounted to the frame (10, 20) at the mounting sites (100, 200), the molds being reusable male or female molds (212, 112). Two lens mold carriers (1, 2) are assigned to each other to form a pair, so that upon mating the pair of lens mold carriers (1, 2) the male and female molds (212, 112) are mated to form mold cavities defining the shape of the lenses. The manufacturing stations comprise a mold changing station (300, 301, 302) configured to be capable of removing a mold from its mounting site (100, 200) and mounting a different mold at the said mounting site (100, 200), or configured to change the rotational position of a mold (112, 212) mounted to the frame (10, 20), or both.

A modular production line for the production of contact lenses comprises at least three separate modules: a manufacturing module (MM), an inspection module (IM), and a packaging module (PP).

The modular production line further comprises fixedly arranged transfer interfaces between the individual modules (MM, IM, PP) for transferring the lenses from a preceding module to a subsequent module. The manufacturing module (MM) comprises a plurality of manufacturing stations (300, 301, 302, 310, 320, 321, 322, 330, 331, 340, 341, 342, 350, 351, 352) which are grouped to form a plurality of individual manufacturing units (30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35) arranged in a closed loop. Reusable male and female molds (212, 112) are transported through the manufacturing stations of the manufacturing units, and each manufacturing unit (30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35) comprises a plurality of the manufacturing stations (300, 301, 302, 310, 320, 321, 322, 330, 331, 340, 341, 342, 350, 351, 352). A plurality of transfer robots (36) is provided, each transfer robot (36) of the plurality of transfer robots (36) being arranged at a location between two manufacturing units (30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35) to transfer the reusable molds from one manufacturing unit to the other manufacturing unit.

An apparatus for the thermal curing of a lens-forming material contained in a lens mold to form an ophthalmic lens comprises: a tray made of metal, the tray having a fixation opening, a mold support made of plastic,

wherein the mold support has a fastener fixed to the tray at the fixation opening and fixing the mold support to the tray,

wherein the mold support further has a positioning guide configured to position a lens mold on the mold support in a predetermined position relative to the tray and wherein the mold support further has a support surface, and a lens mold arranged on the mold support, the lens mold having a bearing surface resting on the support surface of the mold support.

The lens mold is arranged spaced apart from the tray by a clearance distance.

A tray (20) for holding contact lens mold assemblies (70) during thermal curing of a contact lens precursor material in an oven (210) to form contact lenses. The tray (20) comprises a plurality of plates (60) and a frame (25) supporting the plates (60). The frame (25) is configured to be stacked vertically with a plurality of identical frames to form a tray stack (10). Each plate (60) is a carbon-fiber reinforced polymer plate and comprises a plurality of support structures (110) each arranged to support one contact lens mold assembly (70) during curing and a plurality of channels (90, 100) connecting the support structures (110), to allow gases to flow between them in the tray stack (10) during curing.

A method of manufacturing an ophthalmic lens using a first mold portion and a puck assembly. The puck assembly comprises a carrier puck. The puck assembly supports at least one of the first mold portion and the lens during at least two of the following ophthalmic lens manufacturing steps: assembling the first mold portion and a second mold portion into a mold assembly including a lens-defining cavity containing a lens precursor material; curing the lens precursor material in the mold assembly to form a lens; separating the mold assembly such that the lens remains attached to the first mold portion; detaching the lens from the first mold portion; extracting unwanted material from the lens; hydrating the lens; inspecting the lens, and packaging the lens.

A method for calibrating lens grippers prior to use of the grippers in a lens manufacturing line includes providing a remote gripper calibration tool having an assembly plate and a Z-directional position sensor; providing a master gripper having a length dimension terminating in a tip, the length dimension being predetermined to match a desired final extension length of a lens gripper; mounting the master gripper to the assembly plate; measuring the Z-directional position of the tip of the master gripper with the Z-directional position sensor; unmounting the master gripper from the assembly plate; mounting a lens gripper to be calibrated to the assembly plate, the lens gripper having a tip, and calibrating the lens gripper by adjusting the final extension length of the tip of the lens gripper to a predetermined position relative to the measured Z-directional position of the tip of the master gripper.

A system for manufacturing ophthalmic devices, in particular contact lenses or intraocular lenses, includes at least one injection molding machine for manufacturing a cup bottom part and cup top part to form a cast mold, a cooling station, an injection assembly arranged for injecting an amount of monomeric material into the cup bottom part, a curing assembly, a first optical inspection assembly for determining at least one first optical cup part parameter, a second optical inspection assembly for determining at least one optical combination parameter of the combination of the cured monomeric material formed into a lens and the cup part that bears the lens, and an electronic control provided with a calculation module for determining at least one optical lens parameter of the lens on the basis of the cup part parameter and the combination parameter. Possibly, production parameters can be adjusted on the basis of trend changes of the lens parameters of produced lenses.