Electronic devices and method for thermal monitoring of an electro-mechanical actuator

An electronic device comprising:

• an electro-mechanical actuator being driven by an output signal;
• a temperature sensor to output an in-field calibration temperature;
• and
• a temperature estimator that includes
• a memory storing the in-field calibration temperature and parameters of an equation that relates a calculated thermal coefficient of resistivity of the electro-mechanical actuator to the in-field calibration temperature, wherein the calculated thermal coefficient of resistivity changes based on the in-field calibration temperature,
• a temperature converter
• to receive the parameters and the in-field calibration temperature from the memory,
• to compute the calculated thermal coefficient of resistivity of the electro-mechanical actuator using the parameters, the in-field calibration temperature and the equation, and
• to compute a temperature estimate of the electro-mechanical actuator based on the calculated thermal coefficient of resistivity, and
• a temperature controller to monitor the temperature estimate of the electro-mechanical actuator to prevent overheating of the electro-mechanical actuator.

A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform a method of thermal monitoring of an electro-mechanical actuator included in a device, the method comprising:

• receiving an in-field calibration temperature from a temperature sensor included in the device;
• computing a calculated thermal coefficient of resistivity of the electro-mechanical actuator using an equation that relates the calculated thermal coefficient of resistivity of the electro-mechanical actuator to the in-field calibration temperature, wherein the calculated thermal coefficient of resistivity changes based on the in-field calibration temperature, wherein the equation includes parameters that that are stored in the device;
• computing a temperature estimate based on the calculated thermal coefficient of resistivity;
• and
• monitoring the temperature estimate of the electro-mechanical actuator to prevent overheating of the electro-mechanical actuator.