Positive Corona Pulse Characteristics from Two Interacting Needles in Air

A set of oscillograms has been obtained to investigate the development of pulse mode in the positive discharge from a single and twin interacting thin needles. The transition from burst pulses to continuous glow in laboratory air is discussed. When the needles are brought close together, the onset voltage increases with a subsequent decrease of the corona current for the same applied voltage. Not only the onset voltage but also the offset voltage (i.e., voltage at which the burst pulses disappear) increases as the needle-to-needle spacing decreases. The pulse repetition rate increases with the applied voltage reaching maximum and then showed a decrease with further increase of voltage. When the needles are brought very close to each other, the rate of increase of pulse repetition rate with voltage increases by about 15 percent more than the corresponding rate for single needle. Not only the rate of increase of pulse repetition rate but also the repetition rate itself reaches almost double the value for a single needle. The randomness of the pulse repetition rate was found maximum at voltages close to the onset value and decreases with increase of the voltage. On the contrary, the pulses had almost the same amplitude at voltages very close to the onset value.