Suspension system for a flexible optical membrane
First Claim
1. A suspension system for a flexible membrane serving as a boundary surface of an optical device selected from the group consisting of a liquid lens and a flexible membrane mirror, characterised in that the system comprises two resilient O-rings supported opposite one another in a frame with the membrane placed between the two O-rings, and in that pressure is applied to the O-rings via the frame to cause the line of contact each O-ring makes with the membrane to become an annular zone producing an outwardly directed radial tension at all points in the membrane, thereby holding it in the frame under tension.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An adjustable liquid lens or mirror has a chamber delimited by a flexible membrane surface, which flexible membrane is supported in tension between a pair of resilient rings. A first fluid medium fills the chamber which, in the case of a lens, has a different refractive index from that of a second fluid medium contacting the other side of the flexible membrane. An annular support member for the flexible membrane comprises relatively movable first and second component parts, the first and second component parts of the support member being adjustably linked in a fluid-tight manner whereby the volume of the chamber is adjustable by moving one component part of the support member relative to the other in such wise as to vary the pressure in the first fluid medium and thereby to alter the shape of the said membrane surface.
242 Citations
17 Claims
- 1. A suspension system for a flexible membrane serving as a boundary surface of an optical device selected from the group consisting of a liquid lens and a flexible membrane mirror, characterised in that the system comprises two resilient O-rings supported opposite one another in a frame with the membrane placed between the two O-rings, and in that pressure is applied to the O-rings via the frame to cause the line of contact each O-ring makes with the membrane to become an annular zone producing an outwardly directed radial tension at all points in the membrane, thereby holding it in the frame under tension.
- 6. An adjustable liquid lens comprising a chamber delimited by a transparent flexible membrane, a first fluid medium filling the chamber which has a different refractive index from that of a second fluid medium contacting the other side of the flexible membrane, and an annular support member for the flexible membrane comprising relatively movable first and second components parts, the first and second component parts of the support member exhibiting closely adjacent matching surfaces between which an O-ring seal is located and being adjustably linked in a fluid-tight manner whereby the volume of the chamber is adjustable by moving one component part of the support member relative to the other in such wise as to vary the pressure in the first fluid medium and thereby to alter the shape of the said flexible membrane, the flexible membrane being held in place between a compressed pair of O-rings supported opposite one another in the first part of said annular support member, pressure applied to the O-rings via the said first part of the support member causing each O-ring to contact the membrane along an annular zone and generating an outwardly directed radial tension at all points in the membrane to hold it in the said first part of the support member under tension.
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17. A suspension system for a flexible membrane serving as a boundary surface of an optical device characterised in that the system comprises two resilient O-rings supported opposite one another in a frame with the membrane placed between the two O-rings, and in that pressure is applied to the O-rings via the frame to cause the line of contact each O-ring makes with the membrane to become an annular zone producing an outwardly directed radial tension at all points in the membrane, thereby holding it in the frame under tension.
Specification