ARTICLE IN PRESS

Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 775–780

www.elsevier.com/locate/elstat

Electric fields coupled with ion space charge.

Part 1: measurements
Jörg Meyera,, Andreas Marquarda, Marc Poppnerb,
Rainer Sonnenscheinc
a
University of Karlsruhe, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
b
DaimlerChrysler, Research and Technology, Ulm, Germany
c
Dornier GmbH/DaimlerChrysler, Research and Technology, Friedrichshafen, Germany
Available online 19 March 2005

Abstract

In order to obtain a detailed understanding of the particle charging processes occurring in a

corona charging system, information on local charging conditions with respect to ion space
charge is essential, especially in arrangements with highly inhomogeneous charging conditions.
To obtain information on such local electrical data, spatially resolved measurements of space
potential, field strength and ion flux were performed in a point-plane arrangement, which
serves as a simplified model of an inhomogeneous configuration. Applicability and limitations
of an invasive current probe technique were investigated in different spatial regions of the
discharge set-up. The resulting local data can be used for comparison with numerical
simulations.
r 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Spatially resolved measurement; Electric field; Ion flux; Charging conditions; Point-plane
arrangement

1. Introduction and basics

Results obtained from experiments using corona chargers with strongly

inhomogeneous charging conditions (residence time t, ion concentration r) differ

Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 721 608 6567; fax: +49 721 608 6563.
E-mail address: joerg.meyer@mvm.uka.de (J. Meyer).

0304-3886/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.elstat.2005.03.044
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776 J. Meyer et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 775–780

substantially from theoretical predictions for a homogeneous r
t product [1].

Thus, more detailed knowledge of local electrical data in a corona charger is
essential to predict charging, movement and deposition of particles which enter
the device.
A point-plane corona arrangement—which serves as a simple example for more
complex charging devices—was used to produce a strongly inhomogeneous charging
regime (Figs. 1 and 2). Special attention was paid to establish stable and defined
corona conditions with respect to the corona regime (neg. glow), discharge
atmosphere (gas composition, temperature (293 K) and humidity (40% rel.)) and
the boundary conditions (set-up shielded by grounded Faraday cage).
An invasive technique using a spherical probe of adjustable potential allows for
measurements of the current caused by collection of ions on the surface of the
sampling sphere. This technique was developed by Collins et al. [2] and is in principle
limited to homogeneous electrical fields and low ion concentrations r. Since the E-
field changes very little across the length scale of the probe sphere (radius
rP ¼ 1:5 mm), it is assumed that the technique can still be used here [3]. Varying
probe potential FP around the local space potential FR in a unipolar ion atmosphere
results in probe current IP, which is given by two linear sections with a quadratic
transition in between (Eq. (1)):
8
> 0; ~R j;
FR  FP 43rP jE L;
>
>
< prm
~R j  ðFR  FP ÞÞ2 ;
ð3rP jE ~R j;
jFR  FP jo3rP jE M;
I P ¼  jE~ j (1)
>
> R
>
: 4pr rmðF  F Þ;
P R P
~R j;
FR  FP o  3rP jE N;

(m: el. mobility of ions), resulting in a current–voltage characteristic as shown in

Fig. 3. From that, FR can be derived at the intersection of the linear section N with
the abscissa, while the slope of section N is proportional to the quotient of ion flux j~
jj

collection electrode
1.5 m shielded
probe support shielded
sphere current
0.3 m

measurement

HV Iprobe
2.0 m
1.6 m

Icorona
point 0.8 m
electrode
(-60 kV) current probe faraday cage HV
on xy-stack (grounded)

2.3 m

Fig. 1. Experimental set-up (left: top view, right: front view): point-plate corona arrangement with
measurement device for local electrical data (all housed in Faraday cage).
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J. Meyer et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 775–780 777

0 0 20 20 20
collection plate /2 /2 0/ 0/ 0/ y
30 90 15 21 27
0/20

0/80 90/80

0/140 150/150

0/200 210/210
0/240
0/270 270/270
probe x
position:
x/y corona needle

Fig. 2. Coordinate system and individual measuring points (coordinates in mm from plate centre).

unipolar
L
0
probe current I p

ΦR
probe potential ΦP

Fig. 3. Calculated IP–FP characteristic: spherical probe in hom. E-field and unipolar ion atmosphere.

~R j and thus to r:
and local field strength jE

dI P j~
jj
¼ 4prP ¼ 4prP rm. (2)
dFP ~R j
jE
~R j can generally be calculated from the dimension of the
The local field strength jE
quadratic section, which is difficult and susceptible to errors, if measured data scatter
significantly. Therefore, a least-squares fit was used to determine j~ ~R j; and FR
jj; jE
from measured IP–FP characteristics.

2. Experimental results

The influence of the measurement probe on the corona discharge was examined by
determining the corona current while varying FP around FR for different probe
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778 J. Meyer et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 775–780

positions. The corona current IC normalised with the corona current at FP ¼ FR vs.
the deviation of the probe potential from the local space potential FP–FR is shown
for the line from point to plate (Fig. 4a), whilst Fig. 4b shows the data for a line
parallel to the plate and for the diagonal line (xEy), respectively. Only in the vicinity
(x ¼ 270 mm) of the corona needle is IC significantly influenced by the probe
potential (over 75%).
In the vicinity (x ¼ 20 mm) of the collection plate, the measured probe
characteristics match the predicted shape almost perfectly, as illustrated by the

1.05 1.02
y = 0 mm x = 20 mm
rel. corona current IC / IC,Φ [-]
R

rel. corona current IC / IC,ΦR [-]

y = 0 mm y = 150 mm y = 270 mm
0.98
1

1.02
x≈y
x = 20 mm
x = 80 mm
x = 140 mm 1
x = 200 mm
x = 240 mm x = 20 mm x = 150 mm x = 270 mm
x = 270 mm y = 0 mm y = 150 mm y = 270 mm
0.95 0.98
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
(a) Probe potential - local space potential ΦP -ΦR [kV] (b) Probe potential - local space potential ΦP -ΦR [kV]

Fig. 4. Influence of probe on discharge: normalised corona current vs. FP–FR (a) y ¼ 0 mm; (b) x ¼
20 mm and xEy, respectively.

10 2
probe current Ip [nA]

probe current Ip [nA]

x = 20 mm, y = 0 mm x = 20 mm, y = 270 mm

0 0
-2
-10
-4
-20
-6
-30 measured data -8
fitted probe current
-40 -10
-6 -4 -2 0 -6 -4 -2 0
(a) probe potential Φp [kV] (b) probe potential Φp [kV]

200 5
probe current I p [nA]

probe current Ip [nA]

x = 270 mm, y = 0 mm x = 270 mm, y = 270 mm

0 0
-200 -5
-400 -10
-600 -15
-800 -20
-1000 -25
-47 -45 -43 -41 -21 -19 -17 -15
(c) probe potential Φp [kV] (d) probe potential Φp [kV]

Fig. 5. Measured IP–FP characteristic and corresponding least square fit for different probe positions.
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J. Meyer et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 775–780 779

250 5
x = 20 mm

200 4

j / E [10-9C/(s·V·m)]
j [
A/m2]
E [kV/m]
150 3

-Φ [kV]
100 2

50 1

0 0
0 100 200 300
(a) y / mm

350 7000
y = 0 mm
300 6000
j / E [10-9C/(s·V·m)]

250 5000

j [
A/m2]
200 4000
E [kV/m]
-Φ [kV]

150 3000

100 2000

5 1000

0 0
0 100 200 300
(b) x / mm

300 0.9
x≈y
j / E [10-9C/(s·V·m)]

200 0.6
E [kV/m]-
j [
A/m2]
-Φ [kV]

100 0.3

0 0.0
0 100 200 300
(c) x / mm

Fig. 6. Measured local electrical data FP (triangles, m), E (squares, &), j (diamonds, }) and j=Er
(bullets, ) for (a) x ¼ 20 mm (parallel to collection plate), (b) y ¼ 0 mm (from corona needle to plate), (c)
xEy (diagonal line towards stray field).

corresponding IP–FP plots for two individual measurements (Fig. 5a and b).
However, near the corona needle (x ¼ 270 mm; y ¼ 0 mm; Fig. 5c) and at the
outer regions of the stray field of the set-up towards the surrounding Faraday
cage (x ¼ 270 mm; y ¼ 270 mm; Fig. 5d), the deviation between measured data and
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780 J. Meyer et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 775–780

least-squares fit increases. While the determination of FR and the slope of the linear
section N (and from that j~ jj=jE~R jr) is still possible with acceptable precision, the
dimension of the quadratic section becomes harder to detect leading to an increasing
error for jE ~R j and thus for j~
jj:
Average values for FR, j~ ~R j and j~
jj; jE ~R j (Fig. 6) were determined from at least
jj=jE
four individual measurements, with error bars indicating the standard deviation s
for all measurements at one location. As expected, s is small for the area near the
collection plate (Fig. 6a), and increases both towards the corona tip (Fig. 6b) and the
stray field (Fig. 6c). Also, errors for j~jj and jE~R j are generally larger than for FR and
~ ~
jjj=jE R j: The E-field is rather flat on the axis from corona needle to the collection
plane with only a slight increase near the corona tip (as can be expected qualitatively
from the effect of the ion space charge), while ion flux and ion concentration increase
drastically towards the needle electrode. In spite of a significant drop along the
diagonal line xEy (Fig. 6c), field strength and ion concentration stay rather high in
the stray field, being only halved compared to the centre position near the collection
plate (x ¼ 20 mm; y ¼ 0 mm).
As the gradient of the electric field is (due to the space charge effects) rather low,
even at positions near the corona needle (x ¼ 2002270 mm; y ¼ 0 mm), the
assumption of a quasi-homogenous E-field—as a prerequisite for the applicability
of the measurement technique—holds true. Indeed, in the vicinity of the corona
needle, at x ¼ 240 mm; y ¼ 0 mm; the E-field changes only 1.2% across the probe
diameter, when approximating the local gradient of the electric field strength
between position x ¼ 200 and 270 mm (at y ¼ 0 mm) by a linear correlation.

3. Conclusions

The determination of local electrical data was successfully completed for the
largest region of a point-plate corona arrangement. However there are some
concerns on the accuracy of the data in the very close vicinity of the corona
electrode. The quantitative data can now be used to validate simulations of FR and r
for the same set-up [4]. These simulations in turn can be used to calculate
geometrically more complex charging devices, which are not measurable by the
technique shown in this paper without extensive further work.

References

[1] A. Marquard, J. Meyer, A. Bredin, G. Kasper, Unipolar charging of nanoparticles at inhomogeneous

N
t-products and charge-loss-relations, J. Aerosol Sci. (Abstracts of EAC) I (2004) S429–S430.
[2] J.A. Collins, Y. Linde, S.A. Self, Spherical probes for corona discharges, J. Electrostat. 4 (1978)
377–389.
[3] M. Poppner, R. Sonnenschein, J. Meyer, Electric fields coupled with ion space charge. Part 2:
computation, J. Electrostat. 63 (2005) 781–787, these proceedings; doi:10.1016/j.elstat.2005.03.045.
[4] J. Meyer, Elektrische Koronaaufladung submikroner Partikeln und deren EinfluX auf die
Oberflächenfiltration, Shaker, Aachen, 2002.