'Made in Vietnam' night vision glasses

Recently, the research group of the Institute of Physics and Electronics (Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology) has successfully manufactured three types of night-vision products: one-eyed observation glass, two-eyed observation glass and viewfinder, The price is 35 - 50% cheaper than comparable imported products.

Night view for sniper rifles. (Photo: ND) These are successful products of the KC.05.04 state-level project "Research on the technology of manufacturing and assembling optical components of night vision equipment based on the principle of fuzzy light amplification ".

Because it is a high-tech product, mainly used for military purposes, the type of viewfinder and night-vision goggles are often banned from exporting to countries outside of NATO. If you can buy it, the price is also very high. As the lowest type is the mini viewfinder, which has been priced at US $ 6,000, and the transfer price for a normal viewfinder has also reached millions of dollars. If actively researching and manufacturing night-vision goggles in the country, not only reduce the cost compared to the whole unit, but also can diversify products. However, the study of manufacturing night vision goggles requires the coordination of many high-tech fields that only a few industrialized countries are capable of.

Initial research encountered many difficulties because it was a completely new work, while we lacked both facilities and technology knowledge, lack of supporting industries such as precision engineering, materials optics and chemicals, lack of design team, technology engineers and skilled workers. Up to now, Vietnam has not had a development orientation, no science code yet.

Observation glasses.(Photo: ND)

Therefore, the research team must build a technological process, from very small tasks such as thread turning, processing and manufacturing mechanical functions . to high-tech jobs like research. save the theory and process of creating Gaussian beam beam images, optimize the design of functional clusters, study and experiment with the processes of creating markings on the optical glass surface . seven areas for research and experimentation: optoelectronics - laser; thin film technology, technical optics, precision engineering, electronics, automatic control and image processing.

"We must proactively solve all stages from research, design to manufacturing and assembly technology for most types of night vision equipment lenses using photo amplifiers. modern system " - said Dr. Minh, the leader of the research team.

Initially, it was not easy to import image amplifiers for night vision lenses, which is not easy because many countries banned them from buying and selling. Finally, the team chose to buy the XD-4 generation receiver. This type of receiver not only has good features but is also very durable.

"It is thanks to the right decision in importing these types of receivers that we have created international standard night vision devices. This is also an important strategic direction for investment projects. research and development and production of night vision equipment lenses in the country, avoid buying outdated lines " - Dr. Minh said.

Glasses wearing forehead.(Photo: ND)

Those who " play " the camera know, to improve the resolution, depth and brightness of optical lenses, they must increase the aperture or diameter of the lenses. In high-end optical devices such as lenses for dedicated cameras, aerial photography lenses, large-type telescope . the diameter of lens and mirror elements is usually greater than Ø100.

So far, optical surface polishing machines in Vietnam can only process lenses with diameters from Ø 20 to Ø 80. To create optical details with a diameter greater than Ø 100, the group The study must invest in a device that measures the most accurate sphere surface radius at the same time, and also designs and manufactures a large optical sphere polishing and polishing machine, a lens center and tools jigs for grinding edges and drilling lenses with extremely accurate coaxiality.

In order to increase the sharpness and fidelity of color, another step is very elaborate that the research team has to do is to make thin film layers of interfering membranes by evaporation in vacuum. The thin film that looks like oil scum on this lens has the effect of reducing the reflectivity, increasing the transmittance of each refracting surface, besides it also works to protect the glass surface from the impact of moisture, vapor Seawater or mold destruction.

  Along with a variety of other processes such as optimizing the design of specific lens systems for night vision, developing a set of quality improvement and image processing programs, precision machining of difficult and complex mechanical details Turbidity, assembly measurement aligning the lens and the entire device, the research team has built a full range of night vision equipment lenses. Through testing in a number of agencies of the Ministry of Public Security, glass products

Glasses rotating night camera.(Photo: ND)

One-eye observation of the research team has the same image quality as the best models of the same type of foreign countries.

The long-range night vision goggles that the design team " surpassed registration " have a magnification of up to 45 times . In the binocular type, the group also fabricated " beyond the requirements " of glass samples attached to driving caps or pilot hats. When removing the glasses from the hat, it is used as binocular binoculars, very convenient to observe.

As for the type of viewfinder, the lens and mechanical details must have a higher accuracy than the one used for observation, not to mention all the laser optical function functional groups of the right lens. The texture is particularly strong to avoid buckling due to the strong vibration force when shot. The type of viewfinder successfully designed by the research team can be used both day and night, observing the target clearly at 350m.

Of course, from trial products to mass production is a long way. " A seemingly simple job, but it has to invest a great deal to clean up sterile glass, or electrostatic eliminator chamber when assembling electronic circuits, materials must be impregnated according to technological process so as not to be short-circuited. We have no water, but we don't have it, but most importantly, all the things we know about technology and expertise, we know . "