Experimental investigation of discharges for charged plastic or plastic-coated materials

We present an experimental investigation of discharges to charged plastic plates with and without a groundplane on the back side. The plates were charged using corona discharge. The charge distribution on the surface was acquired using a scanning system and then a grounded electrode was moved to the charged surface until a discharge occurred and the new charge distribution was measured. Furthermore, the discharge current pulse was measured. With the acquired charge distribution values, the transported charge and the area of the discharged surface were determined. The transported charge was also determined using the measured current pulse. Additionally, theoretical work was performed to develop a model that allows the calculation of the dissipated power and energy during the discharge.