Analysis of partial discharges in a capacitor-type structure

Partial discharges in a capacitor-type structure have been registered with a digital discharge analyzer for increasing voltages up to breakdown. The capacitor contained two 13.6 /spl mu/m thick PP films pressed between two plane electrodes. The discharges were located by FTIR mapping at the edge of the electrodes. At high applied voltages, electrochemiluminescence and discharges give light emission, the first phenomenon being predominant. The variations with time of the light emitted by the discharges have been correlated with the phase-distributions of their number and charge.