Sensor for detecting a position of a mechanical component within a polar spherical coordinate reference system

A sensor for detecting a position of a mechanical component within a polar spherical coordinate reference system, comprising:

• a sensor body extending along a longitudinal development axis, said sensor body having a respective free end configured to be operatively connected to a first mechanical component, the free end of the sensor body representing the origin of the polar spherical coordinate reference system;
• a slider operatively connected to the sensor body so as to slide, with respect to the sensor body, coaxially along the longitudinal development axis of the sensor body, said slider having a respective free end configured to be operatively connected to a second mechanical component;
• the sensor further comprising:
• a data processing unit accommodated inside the sensor body;
• a memory unit operatively associated with the data processing unit, the memory unit being accommodated inside the sensor body;
• a linear position sensor accommodated inside the sensor body and operatively connected to the data processing unit, said linear sensor being configured to detect a first linear coordinate of a position of the free end of the slider in the polar spherical coordinate reference system;
• an acceleration sensor accommodated inside the sensor body and operatively connected to the data processing unit, the data processing unit being configured to determine a second colatitude coordinate of the position of the free end of the slider in the polar spherical coordinate reference system based on acceleration values to which the sensor body is subject, which are detectable by the acceleration sensor;
• an angular speed sensor accommodated inside the sensor body and operatively connected to the data processing unit, the data processing unit being configured to determine a third longitude coordinate of the position of the free end of the slider in the polar spherical coordinate reference system based on angular speed values to which the sensor body is subject, which are detectable by said angular speed sensor,
• the data processing unit being configured to store, in the memory unit, a plurality of sets of three detected polar spherical coordinates, each set of three polar spherical coordinates comprising the first linear coordinate, the second colatitude coordinate and the third longitude coordinate of the position of the free end of the slider in the polar spherical coordinate reference system detected in an instant of time ti, 1<i<N, N being integer, of a plurality of successive instants of time t1, t2, . . . , ti, . . . , tN,
• the plurality of sets of three stored in the memory unit being representative of a path travelled by the free end of the slider in the polar spherical coordinate reference system.