Why do goggles fog up?
When you wear glasses or goggles for work or sports, do you often have the problem of the lens fogging up? How to prevent goggles from fogging?
First, we need to understand why the lens fogs up?
The reason for the fog is that the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the lens causes a lot of small water droplets to condense on the inside of our lens (i.e., when skiing, your face is warm and produces sweat but the air outside is much colder, thus leading to condensation). Foggy lenses can easily blur your vision and slow down your movements. If the fog persists, it may cause concerns for your safety, such as when you are operating a machine or are moving rapidly.
The Method of Prevent Goggles From Fogging
How can we solve it? How to prevent goggles from fogging? Common methods are as follows:
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Anti-fog spray or anti-fog cloth
The user sprays and wipes the glasses before wearing them to prevent fogging. The anti-fog effect varies depending on the brand. Caution: This should be used only on glasses and goggles which do not already use an antifog coating.
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Single-layer anti-fog lens
An anti-fog chemical coating is added in the lens production process, and users can wear it directly, which is more convenient.
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Double-layer anti-fog lens
Add an anti-fog film to the inner layer of the lens and create a vacuum layer to produce level-up anti-fog power.
As a glasses manufacturing factory, the most common service provided is single-layer and double-layer anti-fog lenses. What is the difference between the two and how to prevent the lens from fogging?
The most common is to add an anti-fog coating to the lens, which is also the above-mentioned single-layer anti-fog lens. There are different grades of anti-fog coating, which can be easily divided into General type and Upgraded type.
The General Anti-fog Lenses are not suitable for contact with water and need to be stored in a dry environment. Their anti-fog performance will gradually decrease over time. These types of anti-fog lenses are commonly used in or safety glasses or sports sunglasses or which request replaced frequently. Mainly because they are economic and thus easier to replace if damaged.
The Upgraded anti-fog lens on the counterpart uses a special anti-fog coating which can manage condensation better and translate it to a water film-like, reduce fogging, and maintain a clearer vision. The fogging effect still exists even cleaning by water. Using and stored properly, which can maintain the anti-fogging effect for a long time.
Most upgraded anti-fog lens products can be passed European standard EN166 N marking and USA standard Z87 X marking. These marks can be recognized on the glasses. They are mainly applied in an environment with higher fog-free requirements.
Learn More： What Does EN166 Mean? European Standard for Safety Glasses
Learn More： What does Z87 mean on safety glasses?
The double-layer anti-fog lens comes with an additional inner anti-fog film (which has the effect of absorbing water vapor). The technology is to create a hollow interlayer created by two layers of lenses to reduce the difference in temperature between the inside and outside of the lens, thus creating a better anti-fog than a single-layer lens. Being highly efficient, this lens is suitable for environments with severe temperature difference between inside and outside, so it is mostly used for ski goggles or special-purpose goggles.
How to take care of goggles with anti-fog coatings and anti-fog film?
Since we’ve learned how to prevent goggles from fogging through the above paragraphs, we need to know how to take care of goggles as a sequence.
Warning: Anti-fog coatings and anti-fog film used on both single-layer and double-layer lenses can be quite fragile, so it is recommended to only wipe the inside of the lens with a microfiber cloth, very gently and to let the lens dry naturally. Wiping the inside of the lens too often or without a proper cloth can wear out the anti-fog layer, greatly diminishing the anti-fog performance.
Anti-fog performance has always been an important part of eyewear products. As a professional manufacturer of eyewear, Tonshung Technology can solve the fogging problem for customers from the manufacturing process. Different grades of anti-fog products and peripheral accessories can be customized according to customers’ different product categories and needs. For further information, please contact us info@tonshung.com .
Further Reading：
What Does EN166 Mean? European Standard for Safety Glasses
Safety Glasses Standards: Guide To Buy A Safety Glasses
Safety Glasses Vs Safety Goggles: How To Know The Difference