Bipolar DC corona discharge from a floating filamentary metal-particle

The motion of a filamentary particle and also the discharge from a particle have been extensively investigated for the development of a prevention and protection method against breakdown in a gas-insulated switchgear. The particle showed several different patterns of motion, e.g., "standing," precession motion, oscillating up and down, etc. Each of these types of motion depends on corona discharge from the particle itself. Since this motion cannot be explained only by monopolar discharge from one end of a particle, bipolar discharge from both ends of a particle occurring simultaneously has been investigated by applying the floating particle method. The particle length and the gap between the particle and electrode were chosen as parameters. From experimental results, several interesting features were obtained. The curve of bipolar corona current lies between negative and positive corona currents of monopolar curves. There is a sudden current increase at the threshold voltage that seems to be a new feature of the corona current from a filamentary particle. So far, the experimental results indicate that this threshold voltage is not a function of particle length, but it could depend slightly on length. Flashover voltage is a function of particle length and the gap. It decreases with length and increases with the gap.