Corona inception in typical electrode configurations for electrostatic processes applications

The corona inception electric field at the surface of a wire electrode is u sually evaluated by an empirical formula established by Peek. That formula was found to be valid in several simple electrode configurations (wire cyli nder, wire plate), which are typical to electrostatic precipitators, The ai m of this paper is to extend the study to other situations encountered in e lectrostatic applications. The experimental setup specifically modeled the several electrode arrangements which are commonly used with roll-type elect rostatic separators. It consisted of wire-type corona electrodes, connected to a regulated de high-voltage supply, and a rotating roll electrode, conn ected to the ground. The effect of associating the corona wire to one or se veral tubular electrodes of various shapes and sizes was investigated. The experimentally determined corona inception voltage was used as input data o f a boundary-element-method program for the electric field computation. The computed values of the electric field were compared with those given by Pe ek's formula for wire electrodes of the same radius. The derived conclusion s can be of help in the custom design of the corona electrode arrangements for various electrostatic applications.