Dispensing technology of 3D printing optical lens with its applications

Abstract

Current 3D printed lens technology faces reduced efficiency due to stepped and stacked lens surfaces. This research employs a faster jet dispensing method which reduces these issues. It uses UV-curable material and merges droplets before they are cured to obtain very smooth lens surfaces without any post-processing and without manufacturing a mold for lens structures. This technology can be applied to lens manufacturing in a variety of products, especially in the form of arrays, saving development time and reducing cost. Two experiments of LED (Light-emitting diode) lens and solar cell lens array mask implementations are presented to demonstrate the power of the method. Furthermore, this study analyzes the effect of different contact angles created by jet dispensing technology, including a detailed exploration of fluid viscosity and tooling heating parameters. Our results show that the LED lens can be manufactured to increase the luminous flux of large angles. Furthermore, the lens array mask for solar cells can be manufactured to reduce sunlight reflection and increase secondary refraction, which enables solar cells to achieve higher photoelectric conversion efficiency and to increase their power generation up to 4.82%.