Influence of Wall Charges on Discharge Characteristics ofSurface Discharge

Abstract

The discharge current and the inception voltage in asurface discharge device have been measured to investigate theinfluence of wall charges on the discharge characteristics in argon.The results show that the inception voltage decreases as theamplitude of the applied voltage Up increases. However, thesum of the inception voltage and the applied voltage almost keepsconstant when Up is changed, due to the fact thatthe wall charges are generated in the discharge process. Thisphenomenon suggests that net electric field between the electrodesalmost keeps constant when the amplitude of the applied voltage ischanged. The electron temperature calculated by the intensity ratio ofemitted spectral lines has been estimated to be less than 0.3 eV andalmost keeps constant under different amplitudes of the appliedvoltage. The result is consistent with nearly constant net field. Theduty ratio of the discharge current increases as the amplitude of theapplied voltage increases.