Dyeing method and dyeing apparatus

Abstract

A dyeing method in which a transparent resin body having a surface applied with a dye is heated to fix the dye to the transparent resin body comprises a heating step of irradiating a laser beam having a wavelength less likely to be absorbed by the dye toward the transparent resin body applied with the dye on the surface while relatively scanning the laser beam with respect to the transparent resin body to heat a to-be-dyed region of the transparent resin body to fix the dye, wherein the laser beam is irradiation to heat by changing a laser beam irradiating condition with respect to a portion of the transparent resin body to be heated so that a heating temperature on the transparent resin body by irradiation of the laser beam is substantially equal throughout an entire area of the to-be-dyed region.

1 . A dyeing method in which a transparent resin body having a surface applied with a dye is heated to fix the dye to the transparent resin body,
 wherein the method comprises a heating step of irradiating a laser beam having a wavelength less likely to be absorbed by the dye toward the transparent resin body applied with the dye on the surface while relatively scanning the laser beam with respect to the transparent resin body to heat a to-be-dyed region of the transparent resin body to fix the dye, wherein the laser beam is irradiation to heat by changing a laser beam irradiating condition with respect to a portion of the transparent resin body to be heated so that a heating temperature on the transparent resin body by irradiation of the laser beam is substantially equal throughout an entire area of the to-be-dyed region.   
     
     
         2 . The dyeing method according to  claim 1 , wherein the heating step includes detecting the heating temperature on the transparent resin body under irradiation of the laser beam and changing the laser beam irradiating condition based on a detection result. 
     
     
         3 . The dyeing method according to  claim 2 , wherein the transparent resin body is a plastic lens. 
     
     
         4 . The dyeing method according to  claim 1 , wherein the heating step including irradiating the laser beam to heat under a first laser beam irradiating condition with respect to a first region having a thick thickness in the to-be-dyed region of the transparent resin body and under a second laser beam irradiating condition with respect to a second region having a thinner thickness than the thickness of the first region, the second irradiation condition being different from the first irradiation condition. 
     
     
         5 . The dyeing method according to  claim 4 , wherein each of the first and second laser beam irradiating conditions includes at least one of a speed condition of the scanning and an output power condition of the laser beam. 
     
     
         6 . The dyeing method according to  claim 5 , wherein the second laser beam irradiating condition includes at least one of a condition that the scanning speed is set faster than in the first laser beam irradiating condition and a condition that the irradiation power is set lower than in the first laser beam irradiating condition. 
     
     
         7 . The dyeing method according to  claim 6 , wherein the transparent resin body is a plastic lens. 
     
     
         8 . A dyeing apparatus in which a transparent resin body having a surface applied with a dye is heated to fix the dye to the transparent resin body,
 wherein the apparatus includes:   a laser beam irradiation part for irradiating a laser beam having a wavelength less likely to be absorbed by the dye toward the transparent resin body;   a scan part for relatively scanning the laser beam irradiated by the laser beam irradiation part with respect to the transparent resin body; and   a controller for controlling irradiation of the laser beam by changing a laser beam irradiating condition with respect to a portion of the transparent resin body to be heated so that a heating temperature on the transparent resin body by irradiation of the laser beam is substantially equal throughout an entire area of the to-be-dyed region while the laser beam is being relatively scanned by the scan part with respect to the to-be-dyed region of the transparent resin body.   
     
     
         9 . The dyeing apparatus according to  claim 8 , further including a detection part for detecting a heating temperature on the transparent resin body to which the laser beam is irradiated, wherein the controller changes the laser beam irradiating condition based on the heating temperature detected by the detection part. 
     
     
         10 . The dyeing apparatus according to  claim 9 , further including an optical member for making a measurement axis of the detection part for detecting the heating temperature coaxial with an irradiation optical axis of the laser beam. 
     
     
         11 . The dyeing apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein the controller controls the laser beam irradiation part so that the laser beam relatively scanned by the scan part is irradiated onto a first region having a thick thickness in the to-be-dyed region of the transparent resin body under a first laser beam irradiating condition and is irradiated onto a second region having a relatively thinner thickness than in the first region under a second laser beam irradiating condition different from the first laser beam irradiating condition. 
     
     
         12 . The dyeing apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein items set as the first laser beam irradiating condition and the second laser beam irradiating condition include at least one of a relatively scanning speed of the laser beam by the scan part and irradiation power of the laser beam by the laser beam irradiation part, and
 the controller controls the scan part based on the first and second laser beam irradiating conditions to make the scanning speed on the second region faster than on the first region or controls the laser beam irradiation part to make the output power of the laser beam lower on the second region than on the first region.   
     
     
         13 . The dyeing apparatus according to  claim 12 , further including a storage part for storing setting information to set irradiation conditions including the first laser beam irradiating condition and the second laser beam irradiating condition with respect to the transparent resin body, and a readout part for reading the setting information from the storage part, and
 wherein the controller controls based on the first and second laser beam irradiating conditions included in the setting information read by the readout part.