What is the copper wire wound thing on a motherboard anyways?

[slpaulson]

Here, you know the copper wound up thing by the cpu socket. What exactly does it do? May I also assume that I should not let my heatsink be anywhere near it?

 

[SillyBoy]

I don't see any copper thing in your photo, what are you talking about?

-

 

[HD2GO]

Inductors.

 

[white]

this particular one in the photo is a toroid.

 

[slpaulson]

What would happen if a heatsink touches it while running?

 

[Mday]

it's an inductor.

 

[hatboy]

I believe that those are used for some type of power regulation (maybe voltage?). I'd try to keep your heatsink away from it.

 

[HD2GO]

They are nowhere near any components that need heatsink. How could you be concerned about heatsink touching them??? I don't get it.

 

[BillyPackerFan]

This is an inductor..
These are 90 degrees out of phase (ac) with a capacitor, that is to say that they store a current as apposed to a capacitor that stores a voltage. These types of devices are used primarily in a supply regulation field. They are used to supply a current needed in a situation that the current regulator drops below a certain preset curent limit (for only a millisecond) to try to remain at a constant, much the same way a capacitor is used to level off a sawtooth wave produced by a bridge rectifier. These devices are also used to match one RF circuit to another called impedence matching.
But regardless of the use in this design, most of these type of devices are coated with a varnish type insulator that can be scratched off over time by the constant vibration of your heatsink ,caused by the cooling fan.
In A nutshell...
This is a fairly rigid device. Do not stress, bend, or flex this component. because doing so can fracture the solder joint, stress the PCB trough hole that in turn will stress the inner layer connections on the motherboard, increase resistance (or impedance) and overall reduce the life of this board.
As long as the heatsink does not touch the wire wound on this device, you should be in good shape.
And as always, when building a systen, I suggest placing the motherboard on a stactic mat (mouse pads work in a pinch) and inserting the CPU, Heatsink fan, and Dimm memory while observing static procedures before mounting to a case. This will reduce the overall stress and increase the life of your motherboard.

(Sorry for the long winded response!)

 

[SirFshAlot]

along those lines......

what's the little metal donut that the case's witing is looped around? i.e. power switch, reset switch wires to mobo

 

[DaddyG]

They most certainly phase shift current with reference to voltage but I'd wouldn't say its a storage device, although some energy is stored.

 

[Maniac9127]

<< what's the little metal donut that the case's witing is looped around? i.e. power switch, reset switch wires to mobo >>

It's a magnet, it filters out EMI. Why they need to filter out EMI on the reset/power/HDD LED is anyone's guess.

 

[jugornot]

Its what us old timers would call a choke. It can be used for many things but most likely voltage regulation. See if you pass voltage across a cap then the current will lead the voltage by 90 degrees ICE If you let it cross an inductor it will cause voltage to lead current ELI. But all that is on ac And although readings in megahertz indicate a type of alternating current although probably square not sine. But on dc such as you might find for devices this big either one tends to settle out ripple. And as such are used in filters. PS: Its also the radio antenna the government puts on all these computers so they know what your are doing. Particularly if they think you are doing something wrong alot of times you hear them transmit a kinda squealing sound and something will quit working or if really bad they will detonate the micro charge that is contained in all electric devices. Its so small that most times you won't even hear it just see some smoke come out. When somethin like that happens just grab your hat and vamoose. They are really close...

 

[KR]

The thing(s) with the copper wires wrapped around them are torroidal cores - and depending on the application, they can be wound as eithat a transformer or a choke. Regardless of their configuration, it's best to keep metal objects from being incontact with them... though insulated, the insulation is merely an enamel coating for insulation and can short circuit pretty easily if scraped with a metal object.

The donut someone asked about is also a torroidal core - in this case it's being used as mentioned - for EMI suppression - the front-panel wires, power wires, etc form an inductor when wrapped around the core. This inductor will have essentially no effect on low frequencies (like the line voltage at 50/60 HZ) or DC signals but will dampen high frequency noise or spikes either coming from your system (that would interfere with tv/radio/etc) or that might be entering your system (static discharge, line noise from nearby sources, etc). Though made of ferrous material they are not magnets and work by induction, not magnetism to eliminate or reduce EMI/RFI and some limited static suppression. (Electro-Magnetic-Interference)

 

[compuwiz1]

I thought those donuts were called Ferrites.

 

[Descend492]

It's obvious none of you know what you're talking about - seeing as none of you know anything about this stuff . It's actually a dorito

right now I'm a freshman electrical engineer. Come back to me in years and I'll be able to tell you. OK?

 

[Mytv]

Thats a voltage regulator like an energy field wrapped around a magnetic.
The tighter the wound, the better the product. Now days companies make those donut wrapped magentic so cheap. If you have a choice on an item get tighter wound one with more wire.

Found on motherboards, tvs, car amps, 12 volt adapters, ceiling fans, power generator, and anything that needs regulated voltage.