Electrophysicochemical characteristics of a waterpen point corona discharge

Some interesting electrophysicochernical characteristics of waterpen point-to-plate discharges with dc and ac power have been investigated in a room atmosphere. The metal point electrode of a conventional point-to-plate air gap is severely bombarded by energetic ions from the discharge region near the point. Concurrently, the temperature of the point is greatly increased. There are different characteristics for the waterpen point discharge, because the surface temperature of the waterpen point stays low due to the evaporation of the moisture from the waterpen point. In this paper, the discharges and electrophysicochemical characteristics of a waterpen point and a Pt metal point have been studied to evaluate the differences. It was found that mists and sprays are dispersed from the waterpen point due to the bombardment of ions. Also, a positive corona is effective for mist dispersion, a negative corona disperses sprays, and ac corona disperses both mists and sprays. The ac discharge of the waterpen point generated more ozone of 56 ppm, while it was the negative dc discharge of the Pt point that produced more ozone of 30 ppm. The ac discharge of the waterpen point produced 0.11 ppm at 10 kV, and the Pt point produced 0.10 ppm at 15 kV. The dc discharge of the both points showed no NO formation.