This article is cited in 12 papers

Gas Discharges, Plasmas

Experimental study of pulsed corona discharge in air

Yu. K. Stishkov, A. V. Samusenko, A. S. Subbotskii, A. N. Kovalev

Science and Education Center Electrophysics, Physics Department, St. Petersburg State University, Staryi Peterhof, St. Petersburg, 198504, Russia

Abstract: We report on the results of experimental investigation of a pulsed corona discharge in electric fields with different degrees of nonuniformity under the action of a standard thunderstorm pulse in a wide range of voltages from the origination threshold to the breakdown. A high-sensitivity video camera makes it possible to record microdischarge and streamer processes in air long before the spark breakdown. It is known that the size of the corona discharge sheath increases with the supplied voltage, and the shape of the corona sheath depends on the polarity of the active electrode [1, 2]. It was demonstrated for the first time by Peek [3] that the range of voltages from the initiation of a corona discharge to the spark breakdown increases with the degree of nonuniformity of the electric field. We show that an analogous pattern is observed for a pulsed corona also. Our results show that the form of a pulsed corona discharge considerably depends on the pulse polarity, and a spark breakdown becomes possible when most branches in the streamer corona cover the electrode gap.

Received: 10.02.2010

 English version: Technical Physics, 2010, 55:11, 1569–1576

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