Project number
16015
Organization
Nightforce Optics Inc.
Academic year
2016-2017
The objective this project is to develop a system to align optical lenses within a riflescope subassembly during production. The designed optical assembly station allows alignment, in less than 20 minutes, of the target assembly to within specified tolerances.
To meet all the requirements presented, a nontraditional approach to optical alignment was adopted. The station projects an expanded laser beam through a refractive axicon lens, which transforms the beam into a ring that is sent through the bore-aligned lens barrel into a camera with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor sensors.
Misalignments of a scope lens within the barrel, such as tilt and decenter, cause changes to the thickness of the projected light ring and to the position of its center, which are detected by the camera. This data is used to adjust the lens until the error is within the acceptable tolerance for the target assembly.
To meet all the requirements presented, a nontraditional approach to optical alignment was adopted. The station projects an expanded laser beam through a refractive axicon lens, which transforms the beam into a ring that is sent through the bore-aligned lens barrel into a camera with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor sensors.
Misalignments of a scope lens within the barrel, such as tilt and decenter, cause changes to the thickness of the projected light ring and to the position of its center, which are detected by the camera. This data is used to adjust the lens until the error is within the acceptable tolerance for the target assembly.