Patent ID: 7100462

Claim:
A device for attaching a sensor to an external surface of a vessel, said sensor non-invasively sensing a property related to the concentration of constituents in said vessel, said external surface being substantially flat in a first dimension and curved or flat in a second dimension, comprising: a) an inner housing containing said sensor, said sensor including at least one component emitting electromagnetic radiation and at least one component detecting electromagnetic radiation, wherein the sensor components are disposed within a plane that is parallel to said first dimension of said external surface when the sensor is mounted to the vessel; b) an outer housing providing a means of stably mounting said sensor to said vessel that automatically accommodates a wide range of variable radii of said second dimension of said external surface when said second dimension of said external surface is curved, and is substantially self-centering about at least one axis with respect to said external surface when said second dimension of said external surface is curved; c) a means of attaching said inner housing to said outer housing that self-adjusts to different radii of said second dimension of said external surface when said second dimension of said external surface is curved, wherein a fixed geometric relationship is maintained between each of the sensor components and nearest points on a chosen surface of said vessel, whereby said sensor is stably attached to a wide variety of vessels in a manner that provides automatic compensation for the curvature of the external surfaces of said vessels.