Patent ID: 7820995

Claim:
Component ( 100 ′, 100 ″) for a household appliance adapted to be at least partially associated with a one of a container and a sump (C′, 10 ′) of the household appliance adapted to contain at least a portion of one of a liquid and a wash liquid, said component ( 100 ′, 100 ″) comprising: a light transmitter (T′, T″, T′″) adapted to generate a light beam, a light receiver (R′, R″, R′″) adapted to receive said light beam, and at least one optical element ( 112 ′, 112 A″, 112 B″) made of a material being at least partially transparent, adapted to affect said light beam depending on the content of said container (C′), said optical element comprising a prism, and a body ( 110 ′, 110 ″) at least partially made of a transparent material, which forms at least a portion of said optical element ( 112 ′, 112 A″, 112 B″), said body further comprising one or more of a support and a fixing element for one or more of said light transmitter (T′) and said light receiver (R′).