Dependence of the density of electrons produced by pulsed surface corona discharge for pre-ionization on pulsed voltage waveform

Streamer discharges generated by pulsed power are used for decomposition of harmful gas and liquid. The homogeneous formation of streamer discharges in a large volume in a reactor improves the efficiency of decomposition. To form streamer discharges homogeneously, the performance of space ionization by a surface corona discharge has studied. The increase of a pulse width brings the increase of an electron density. The electron density was increased from 1/spl times/10/sup 8/ to 1.6/spl times/10/sup 8/ cm/sup -3/ with the pulse width from 20 to 100 ns (FWHM) in the negative discharge with the pulsed voltage of 6 kV and the rise time of 11 ns. As the pulsed voltage increases from 6 to 10 kV in the negative discharge with the pulse width of 100ns (FWHM) and the rise time of 11 ns, the electron density is increased proportionally from 2.2x10/sup 8/ to 5.4x10/sup 8/ cm/sup -3/. The rise time of the pulsed voltage hardly affects the electron density. The decrease of the pulse rise time from 30 to 10 ns of the negative discharge with the pulsed voltage of 6 kV and the pulse width of 100 ns (FWHM) brings the increase of the electron density from 1.45x10/sup 8/ to 1.7x10/sup 8/ cm/sup -3/. The propagation velocity of the surface corona discharge is 0.65 mm/ns in the negative discharge with the pulsed voltage of 10 kV and the rise time of 11 ns.