Abstract
A commercially available electrostatic field solver enables the accurate
calculation of the field distribution existing within the air gap
between a charged insulating sheet with a grounded backing and a
grounded conducting sphere. These data are input to a computer program
which uses a breakdown criterion to determine if the field conditions
are sufficient to initiate a discharge between the sphere and the
insulator. The program decreases the sphere-to-insulator separation
until the breakdown strength of the gap is exceeded. The paper presents
results for a range of sphere sizes approaching insulators of different
thickness. In addition to this, experimental data on the charge transferred
by discharge are discussed in terms of the simulated breakdown field
strengths. The reported data should be of interest in some specialist
areas of electrostatic technologies such as the manufacture and processing
of insulating film and sheet.
Users
Please
log in to take part in the discussion (add own reviews or comments).