An analytical method for DC negative corona discharge in a wire-cylinder device at high temperatures

Abstract

Abstract This paper proposes an analytical solution for DC negative corona discharge in a wire-cylinder device based on experimental results in which both the corona and drift regions are considered; this approach aims to provide a theoretical method for analyzing electrostatic precipitation at high temperatures. The inter-electrode space is divided into three zones, namely, the ionization layer, the attachment layer (corona region) and the drift region, to investigate the space charge concentration and the electric field distribution. The boundary of the ionization layer is assumed to be the radius at which the rate of ionization balances that of electron attachment. The radius where the value of E/N equals 110 Td is recommended as the boundary of the attachment layer. It was determined that an increasing temperature leads to a decrease in the largest space charge number density and the largest electric field in the drift region that can be provided by a discharging device. With respect to the device in the present work, when the temperature increases from 350 °C to 850 °C, the largest electric field decreases from ∼9 × 106 V/m to ∼3 × 106 V/m, and the largest charge number density decreases from ∼1.3 × 1015 m−3 to 6.4 × 1014 m−3. The radius of the corona region, the space charge number density and the electric field increase as the applied voltage increases at a given temperature. For example, at a temperature of 550 °C, when the applied voltage increases from 10,500 V to 18,879 V, the radius of the corona region increases from ∼2.9 mm to ∼4.9 mm. It appears to be unreasonable to use a constant value that is calculated from Peek's formula as the electric field at the surface of the cathode under all of the conditions.