Servo driver chips in high-power dynamic operating conditions frequently experience junction temperatures exceeding safety limits due to instantaneous thermal flux density surge, significantly increasing the risk of solder joint fatigue and accelerating device aging. To address this challenge, this study proposes and experimentally validates a novel composite cooling system—the air-cooling and phase change material coupled cooling system (AC-PCMCS)—achieved through the synergistic integration of forced convection and phase change energy storage. Guided by the second law of thermodynamics and phase equilibrium theory, a composite phase change material (PCM) with a tailored melting point of 80 °C was developed by optimizing the ratios of paraffin, hexadecanoic acid, and graphite. The PCM achieves effective coupling between forced air cooling and latent heat absorption through a multi-scale thermal architecture composed of L-shaped heat pipes and a grid-like porous skeleton. Under steady-state loads, AC-PCMCS reduces the peak temperature by 34.2% compared to the traditional air-cooling system (ACS), while under dynamic loads, its thermal response time is shortened by 50% relative to conventional ACS. Experimental and multi physics simulation results confirm that the system effectively mitigates transient thermal shocks while maintaining operational stability, offering a promising thermal management solution for high-power-density servo drivers and similar electronics.
Yao et al. (Thu,) studied this question.