Patent ID: 8920387

Claim:
In an apparatus for controlling temperature of infused liquids as liquid flows from a liquid-filled container through a drip chamber and tube to an entry site on a patient, wherein said drip chamber includes a transparent tube portion and is disposed along said tube subsequent said liquid-filled container, an apparatus for detecting drips within said drip chamber comprising: a housing including: an opening for receiving said drip chamber; a first housing member including an emitter disposed therein for emitting signals through said transparent tube portion in the form of non-visible light to minimize the effect of ambient visible light in the vicinity of said transparent tube portion; and a second housing member coupled to said first housing member to form said opening and including a plurality of detectors disposed therein each for detecting said non-visible light signals emitted by said emitter of said first housing member and modified by drips within said transparent tube portion to sense the presence of drips within said drip chamber, wherein each said detector includes an angular detection window providing view of an area within said transparent tube portion and detects said non-visible light signals within said view, and wherein said plurality of detectors are angularly displaced from each other about said transparent tube and are arranged to include overlapping detection windows for detecting said non-visible light signals emitted through said transparent tube portion by said emitter of said first housing member, wherein at least one angular detection window comprises a conical window.