Patent ID: 8810234

Claim:
A method of controlling and/or predicting a remaining useful life of an active material actuator presenting an inherent system variable, said method comprising: a. compiling historical data on the inherent system variable versus a second variable, wherein at least a portion of the data was produced during normal actuation events; b. establishing upper and lower bounds of the inherent system variable versus the second variable indicative of normal actuation based the historical data; c. applying an activation signal to the actuator, so as to define a start activation point and activate the actuator over an actuation cycle; d. monitoring the inherent system variable versus the second variable during the cycle, so as to produce a current profile; e. comparing the current profile to the upper and lower bounds, so as to determine an out-of-bounds event; and f. generating a response and/or performing an action, when the event is determined.