Calorimetric calibration of spark gaps for electrostatic discharge studies

Spark gaps are convenient sources of electromagnetic energy, that are used for studying interactions of systems with electrostatic discharge and the electromagnetic pulse. The authors´ study focuses on the optical emission of the spark gap, which is used as a source of electromagnetic energy for studying electrostatic discharge and the electromagnetic energy pulse. The goal of their work is to measure the spark gap´s energy, contained in the optical and quasi optical regions. A reasonably simple and inexpensive method is developed for measuring the spark plug energy, which yields the value of spark plug energy in fundamental units, and which does not require complicated calibration. A spark plug signal generator and the associated apparatus are developed, suitable for industrial environment. A high sensitivity calorimeter is used for the determination of the energy contained in the spark plug optical emission. The long-term stability of the system was found to be acceptable and the system suitable for the nonintrusive characterization of optical emissions.