Contamination of the discharging electrode in an air-cleaning electrostatic precipitator

Contamination of the discharging electrode in a wire-to-plate air-cleaning electrostatic precipitator is studied experimentally. The correlation between the surface condition of the contaminated electrode and corona discharge is investigated. An optical-microscopic observation of the deposited contaminant on the wire electrode is also carried out. The contaminants employed were cigarette smoke particles and spore of Lycopodium clavatum, an example of pollen. Results show that corona modes are significantly affected by the properties of the contaminant. Significant ozone concentration is also observed under the generation of streamer discharge