Experimental study on the movement of non-spherical particles in nonuniform electric field

The deactivation of free particles is an important issue for improving the insulating capability and reliability of high-voltage systems. In this work, we carry out experiments to investigate the electromechanical behavior of the non-spherical conducting particles for different particle orientations on either bare or coated electrode. Spheroidal and wire-shaped particles are used for the experiments. The particle motion is observed for two principal orientations with respect to the applied electric field in air. The results show that on a bare electrode, both kinds of particles exhibit the liftoff motion when the particle axis is aligned with electric field gradient. The field nonuniformity enhances the upward rotation of the particle tip subjected to the higher electric field. When the particle axis is parallel with a constant field line, the wire-shaped particle is more readily to make a rolling motion to the region of stronger electric field in comparison with the spheroidal particle, which shows higher occurrence rate of liftoff. The motion onset electric field decreases with increasing field nonuniformity. On the insulated electrode, the wire-shaped particle shows exclusively the rolling motion, whereas the spheroidal particle may make a rolling motion or rotate horizontally so as to align its axis with electric field gradient.