Investigation of corona discharge devices as electrical loads for experimental high-voltage generators

The use of the corona discharge mechanism as a means of providing an electrical load for experimental high-voltage low-current dc generators is investigated. The current-voltage characteristics of several corona discharge configurations, such as point-to-plane, coaxial cylindrical, and wire-to-plane, were experimentally obtained and compared with theoretically predicted values. Of all the configurations tested, the wire-to-plane configuration is found to be capable of dissipating the maximum electrical power (nearly 3 kW/m length of wire) and exhibits a wide range of current-voltage characteristics at various pressures, depending largely upon the wire-to-plane spacing.