Investigation of the optical and electrical characteristics of a spark gap

Author

Greason, William D. ; Kucerovsky, Zdenek ; Bulach, Sviatoslav ; Flatley, Martin W.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Ont., Canada

Volume

4

fYear

1996

fDate

6-10 Oct 1996

Firstpage

2059

Abstract

A spark gap apparatus and a high speed optoelectronic measurement system were used to examine the optical and electrical characteristics of spark discharges. Parameters studied included the magnitude and polarity of the discharge voltage, gap length and the impedance of the discharge circuit. Analyses were performed to compare the measured optical signatures as a function of the discharge current. Results of the experimentally measured parameters compare well with theoretically computed values. The work has application in the study of electrostatic discharge (ESD) events

Keywords

electrostatic discharge; spark gaps; sparks; discharge circuit impedance; discharge current; discharge voltage magnitude; discharge voltage polarity; electrical characteristics; electrostatic discharge events; gap length; optical characteristics; optical signatures; optoelectronic measurement system; spark discharges; spark gap; Circuits; Electric variables; Electric variables measurement; Electrostatic discharge; Electrostatic measurements; High speed optical techniques; Impedance; Sparks; Velocity measurement; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Industry Applications Conference, 1996. Thirty-First IAS Annual Meeting, IAS '96., Conference Record of the 1996 IEEE

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA

ISSN

0197-2618

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3544-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IAS.1996.563858

Filename

563858