Corona and spark discharges occurring between a grounded sphere and an array of charged multiple electrodes

Corona and spark discharges between a grounded sphere electrode and an array of charged multiple electrodes have been investigated for understanding the characteristics of an electrostatic discharges produced by space charges distributed in three dimension. The electrode array consists of sixty-four 50-cm long by 1-cm diameter conducting rods arranged in an eight-by-eight array with 50-mm spacing between each rod. The entire array was charged by a DC corona discharge. Electrostatic discharges were initiated from the grounded spherical electrode brought in the proximity to the charged array. The electric current and the luminous aspect of the discharge were observed for various sizes of the grounded sphere electrode. The charge distributions of the array before and after the discharge were measured directly. The current waveform and charge transfer of the discharge depend on the polarity of the charged array and the size of the spherical electrode.