EP0229960A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Liquid level sensor
Assignee: Honeywell Ltd Great Britain
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Filing: 1986-12-06
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2006-12-06
Abstract
Abstract An optical liquid level sensor consists of a semiconductor light source (16) and a semiconductor light sensor (15) encapsulated in a common block (30) of transparent plastic material having the shape of a hemisphere (31) and provided with a threaded mounting portion (32, 33).
Inventors
- 👤 Francis William Turnbull
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 00:58
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01F; G01F23/00; G01F23/22; G01F23/28; G01F23/284; G01F23/292; G01F23/2921; G01F23/2922; G01F23/2925
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
67 words
Optical liquid level sensor comprising a light source (16), a light sensor (15) and a light guiding member (31) which is to be exposed to the liquid, characterized in that the light source (16) and the light sensor (15) comprise respective semiconductor devices encapsulated in a common block (30) of transparent plastics material of predetermined shape and are mounted on leads (13) projecting from the encapsulating material.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
67 words
Optical liquid level sensor comprising a light source (16), a light sensor (15) and a light guiding member (31) which is to be exposed to the liquid, characterized in that the light source (16) and the light sensor (15) comprise respective semiconductor devices encapsulated in a common block (30) of transparent plastics material of predetermined shape and are mounted on leads (13) projecting from the encapsulating material.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
18 words
Liquid level sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that the shape of the block (41) is cylindrical.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
18 words
Liquid level sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that the shape of the block (31) is hemispherical.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
68 words
Liquid level sensor according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that the sensor assembly comprises a moulding (30) of transparent plastics material, having a hemispherical portion (31) and a threaded mounting portion (33) with an aperture (34) shaped to receive the package (20) including the light source (16), the light sensor (15) and the leads (13) at the appropriate position for co-operating with the hemispherical portion (31).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
37 words
Liquid level sensor according to claim 4, characterized in that the package (20) is bonded to the moulding (30) by a transparent potting material(37) having a refractive index matching the refractive indices of the package and moulding.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
24 words
Liquid level sensor according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the mounting portion (33) has a non-circular shape, preferably a hexagonal shape.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
27 words
Liquid level sensor according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the connecting wires (35) for the leads (13) are embedded into the potting material (37).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
34 words
Liquid level sensor according to one of the claims 4 to 7, characterized in that the package (20) consists of two semiconductor chips (15,16) mounted on leads (13) of a framework (12) of leads.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
37 words
Liquid level sensor according to one of the claims 2 to 8, characterized in that the light source (16) and the light sensor (15) are located near the centre of the hemisphere (31) or cylinder (41) respectively.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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