Patent ID: 8282570

Claim:
A sidestream gas sampling system, comprising: (1) a sidestream gas measurement assembly, comprising, (a) a housing, (b) a radiation source disposed in the housing, (c) a radiation detector disposed in the housing, (d) a receptacle defined in the housing, and (e) a first alignment mechanism associated with the receptacle; and (2) a sample cell assembly adapted to be coupled to the sidestream gas measurement assembly, the sample cell assembly comprising: (a) a sampling tube have a first tube end portion adapted to be disposed in fluid communication with an airway of a patient and a second tube end portion, wherein the sampling tube carries a gas sample from the first tube end portion to the second tube end portion, and wherein the gas sample is a fraction of a total gas flow to or from the patient, (b) a sample cell having a first cell end portion coupled to the second tube end portion of the sampling tube, the sample cell further having a second cell end portion substantially opposite the first cell end portion of the sample cell, (c) a sample chamber defined in the sample cell for receiving a respiratory sample from the patient via the sampling tube, (d) a first window defined in the sample cell, and (e) a second alignment mechanism associated with the sample cell, wherein the first alignment mechanism and the second alignment mechanism cooperate to enable the sample cell to be inserted into the receptacle in a proper orientation, wherein the second alignment mechanism comprises a latching arm extending from a region near the second cell end portion of the sample cell towards the first cell end portion of the sample cell, and wherein the latching arm forms an acute angle with the region near the second cell end portion of the sample cell.