Corona charging of granular layers of insulating particles at the surface of a grounded electrode

The aim of the present paper is to introduce a simple experimental technique for estimating the corona charging conditions of insulating granules that form a layer at the surface of the grounded electrode of roll-type electrostatic separators. The basic idea consists in measuring the potential at any point on the surface of this layer by means of an electrostatic probe. The capacity of the probe–layer system being constant, the measured potential is proportional to the charge. The results clearly show that the charges imparted to the particles in the corona discharge depend on their positions at the surface of the electrode and on the inter-electrode spacing. This observation could be of use, for instance, to particle charging simulations performed as a preliminary step of any feasibility study of new electrostatic separation applications.