Effect of dust on discharges in rod-rod air gaps in the presence of parallel insulating spacer

Abstract

Breakdown and corona are investigated experimentally in clean and dust-polluted rod-rod air gaps in the presence of clean and dust polluted insulating spacer placed parallel to the electrodes. Gap length and spacer distances were varied and DC voltages of both polarities were used to investigate breakdown voltage and pulsative corona characteristics. The results show that the presence of spacer tends to considerably influence the effects of dust pollution on the breakdown and corona characteristics. Possible mechanisms, which control these variations, are discussed.