Charge Distribution of Submicron Particles Charged by Spray Electrification or Corona Discharge

Abstract

This paper reports on the charge distribution measurements of submicron particles for three different charging mechanisms, which are spray electrification, bipolar ionization and corona discharge process, respectively. The number of elementary charges per particle was investigated by classifying and counting of a discrete mobility class. Charge distribution measurements were performed with NaCl particles generated from a collision atomizer for 0.01, 0.1, 1% NaCl solutions. Experimental results show than charge level of atomized NaCl particles is high and decreases with increasing the dissolved ion concentration. The charge level of the atomized NaCl particles can be reduced to that o Boltzmann equilibrium conditions by the bipolar ionization(Po(sup)210 bipolar ionizer). The charge level on NaCl particles passing through the corona discharge reactor is much higher than those of atomized or bipolar ionized NaCl particles. The evaluation of these measurements results in charge distribution of the submicron particles.