Power Vision CEO Tony Williams.
CREWE, England—Power Vision, a privately owned start-up based here, is launching a small, anti-reflective coating machine with 12-minute cycle time. The machine, called PV Express, is optimized for retail stores, particularly those offering one-hour service. Power Vision introduced it this month at Mido.

The PV Express is unlike the first generation small systems currently on the market which use only one target material. Instead, PV Express uses two targets, one for the low refractive index material and one for the high refractive index material. This means the machine can deposit a high-low multi-layer coating with the optimum optical quality usually associated with traditional box coaters, according to Power Vision. The coating is delivered by means of a new magnetron sputtering deposition process which Power Vision has patented.

“We’ve made the machine really easy to use,” said Power Vision CEO Tony Williams. “It takes six lenses at a time. Once these are loaded the operator simply chooses a recipe from a list on a touch screen display which includes green and blue AR or a range of mirror colors for sunwear. Then click on ‘go’ and the rest is automatic. The cycle time is typically 12 minutes.”

 
 The PV Express is a small AR coating machine that coats six lenses in 12-minutes. The unit can produce a high-low multi-layer coating with the optimum optical quality usually associated with traditional box coaters, according to Power Vision.
Williams noted that LensCrafters founder Dean Butler was the inspiration for the design of this machine because of his success with the one-hour service concept. “A fast turnaround and high quality AR coating capability is the only facility missing from the lab. It’s become necessary because of the fast growth in AR coatings in the U.S. market,” Williams said.

Butler serves as chairman of Power Vision Ltd. and has helped the company secure venture capital funding from a UK-based firm, Enterprise Ventures.

Williams holds a PhD in chemistry and has been a businessman for the last 30 years. He has served as CEO as well as in other senior management roles at VG Instruments and Thermo-Fisher Inc.

Two veteran scientists, Bob Waugh, PhD and Gareth Hall, PhD, head up Power Vision’s research and development team. Waugh, who is the designer of the PV Express, is a world expert in ion-optical design. Hall has a strong background in optical coating process optimization. Both previously made important contributions at Applied Vision Ltd., which also developed and marketing coating systems.

—Andrew Karp