Study of the behavior of the electric discharge path in air when an alternating voltage is applied

The search of optimization of the external electric insulation has given rise to different investigations, one of them related with the possible influence of the electric discharge path through this insulation. This paper deals with the study of the behavior of the electric discharge path in air when an alternating voltage is applied to a rod-plane configuration. With the purpose of determining how the electrode separation affects the distribution of the impact points of the electric discharges, the statistical methods used were the experimental design and the hypothesis contrast. The experimental work was carried out up to one hundred centimeters of electrode separation taking into account the environmental conditions. Three different behaviors were obtained for the intervals of 30-35, 40-60 and 80-100 cm of electrode separation with significant differences among the mean distances of the impact points in reference to the center point of the rod-plane configuration, but the differences inside these intervals were not relevant