Patent ID: 8736282

Claim:
A device for capacitive measurement of the quality, or deterioration, or both the quality and deterioration, of a fluid, wherein the device is secured in a vat of a cooking apparatus, and the device includes: (a) a sensor encapsulated in a perforated case and secured in the vat of the cooking apparatus, wherein the vat includes a bottom; and (b) an electronic processing circuit, wherein the encapsulated sensor is connected to the electronic processing circuit, and wherein the sensor includes a pair of flat electrodes that each have a shape of a comb with a plurality of teeth that are arranged approximately parallel to each other and extend from a base, wherein the pair of flat electrodes include a first electrode and a second electrode that are arranged in relation to each other so teeth of the first electrode fit between teeth of the second electrode in approximately the same plane defining a first plane, and wherein the encapsulated sensor is oriented in the vat so a longitudinal axis of the base of each electrode extends parallel to the bottom of the vat and so the first plane of the first and second electrodes forms an angle of between 0° and 60° with a vertical direction extending parallel to vertical walls of the vat.