Projects Design Manufacturing Simulation
Optical System Design has extensive experience in most branches of
optics. This has been gained in a number of industries, including
defence. Optical System Design have worked in most spectral regions
from the UltraViolet to the far InfraRed. As well as optical
expertise Optical System Design have worked in those areas of
computing that are associated with optics, this includes image
processing and system simulation.
Background Design Manufacturing Simulation
Optical System Design can undertake projects involving design,
manufacturing assistance, staff training and simulation
computation.
The client base includes small one-man companies up to large
Government Laboratories.
Background Projects Manufacturing Simulation
Our speciality is system, rather than lens design. Typically
Optical System Design would undertake the design of the optical
aspects of a complete instrument whilst client's staff designed the
electronics and mechanical components of the instrument. In the event
that a highly specialised lens was required then the design would be
subcontracted to a competent specialist, preferably a member of
Athene. Simple lenses are within our capability.
The optical design task will include any or all of the
following:
Effective overall system design requires that the trade off
between different skill areas be studied closely, for example the use
of a higher power source to increase instrument performance may or
may not be cost effective. The replacement of one moderately priced
catalog optical component by a far more expensive special component
may allow substantial performance enhancements or greater savings in
other areas of the instrument. Optical System Design have wide
experience of this area of design which inevitably requires close
cooperation with my clients own staff or other consultants.
Working with the client's engineers Optical System Design keep the
problems of manufacturability well to the front in the design stage.
For example the mechanical disposition of the components and the way
they are mounted can impact directly on the ease of assembly and
through life stability of the instrument. On occasion Optical System
Design have reduced the manufacturing cost and improved performance
and stability merely by attention to this crucial aspect of
design.
Often the design process is cooperative with the customers own
staff, however a formal report is always submitted. This will contain
any or all of the following elements.
Designs have included scientific instruments, specialised lighting
units and several applications in the leisure industry.
Background Projects Design Simulation
The changes in technology over the last few years and the more
competitive nature of the commercial world has required that many
companies have started to introduce optical technology into their
products. In some cases a very naïve approach to optical
manufacturing has proven to be less than satisfactory.
Whilst ideally manufacturability, facilities and staff skills
should have been taken into account during the design phase this
often has not happened.
In either of these situations Optical System Design can assist by
helping with the training of staff in the handling of optical
components, in alignment procedures and also the implementation of
clean rooms.
It is often the case that the manufacturing problems can be very
greatly eased by a complete redesign, however sometimes this is
inappropriate. On occasion the same basic design can be made easier
to manufacture by a rearrangement of the mechanical assembly so that
tightly toleranced separations can be located in the same mechanical
structure. These structures may be bought in as sub assemblies
manufactured by specialist sub-contractors thus easing the client's
manufacturing problems.
The staff training can range from very simple instruction in how
to handle optical components, both in stores and in the assembly
area, to instruction in alignment techniques. Sometimes it is
appropriate to derive these alignment procedures first and then show
staff how to implement them. Where appropriate alignment jigs can be
devised and manufactured, the manufacture would generally be carried
out in the clients workshop.
Background Projects Design Manufacturing
Several projects have involved numerical simulation of optical
systems. Typically these have been systems that conventional
raytracing programs cannot handle.
One project required highly efficient uniform lighting with very
tight space constraints. The solution was to use a series of highly
aspheric non symmetric lenses. Optical System Design designed the
lenses and then developed data transfer techniques to pass the data
to CNC machine tools to allow the manufacture of moulds for injection
moulding.
Another project required the simulation of light pipes where the
propagation through the pipe is non sequential in the sense that the
number of reflections and the order of surfaces at which the
reflection took place is not defined at the start of the simulation.
In this case Optical System Design supplied to the client a program
which he used to optimise the design himself.
Optical System Design have two IBM PC clones with a wide range of
software. This includes standard packages such as OSLO, MathCad, Excel,
Borland C++ Builder and Word as well as more specialised programs. Some of
the specialised programs have been written in house.
| Allan M Newton | Tel: 01892 784165 |
| 39 Jonas Drive | Fax: 0870 706 1285 |
| Wadhurst | Email : allan@opticaldesign.co.uk |
| East Sussex | TN5 6RL |