Experimental Studies on Corona Discharge Ionization

Abstract

This study investigates the possibility of corona discharge ionization technique for reduction of fog. For corona discharge ionization a high voltage power supply is designed and developed indigenously. The high output voltage is developed by using isolation transformer, autotransformer, and high voltage neon transformer and it is converted into DC voltage by using Wheatstone bridge circuit and high voltage capacitor. Formation of negative corona, positive corona and voltage-current characteristics of corona ionization was studied. By selecting -9 kV voltages to discharge electrode, the performance of this circuit was tested for removal of fog, Fog was generated by using ultrasonic water fogger collected in closed glass container. Various runs were carried out. The light intensity was measured for each run as a function of time, in presence and absence of the discharge. After continuous operation of device for 6 minutes, 90% to 95% of the aerosols were removed from container in addition to the natural decay effect.