Patent ID: 7388222

Claim:
An optical liquid level sensor which comprises: a) an elongated optical transmitter element having a first end and a second end, for transmitting optical signals from its second end to its first end, and an adjacent elongated optical receiver element having a first end and a second end for receiving reflected optical signals at its first end and transmitting the reflected optical signals to its second end, wherein each of the optical transmitter element and the optical receiver element comprise a material having a melting and/or degradation temperature of about 400° C. or greater; b) a coupler for holding together the first end of the optical transmitter element to the first end of the optical receiver element, to thereby form a coupled optical element end; c) an optical lens on the coupled optical element end, which optical lens is capable of receiving optical signals from the second end of the optical transmitter element, forming reflected optical signals therefrom, and passing the reflected optical signals into the first end of the optical receiver element; d) a light source at or near a second end of the optical transmitter element, which light source is capable of receiving outgoing signal information from a processor and transmitting outgoing optical signals to the optical lens via the optical transmitter element; e) a photoreceiver at or near a second end of the optical receiver element, which photoreceiver is capable of receiving reflected optical signals from the optical receiver element, and which photoreceiver is capable of sending reflected signal information to a processor; and f) a processor attached to the light source and to the photoreceiver, which processor is capable of transmitting outgoing signal information to the light source, receiving reflected signal information from the photoreceiver, and processing reflected signal information.