Corona discharge has been extensively studied in almost every electrode arrangement and applied voltage shape except in wire-plate geometry and repetitive voltage pulses with very sharp rising fronts. Recently, it has been demonstrated that this corona discharge may induce chemical reactions useful in flue gas treatment. In order to more efficiently design both the voltage pulse generator and the electrode arrangement, it appeared necessary to quantitatively describe the pulse corona discharge. The rise front of the voltage pulses should be as short as possible, namely, less than a few hundred nanoseconds, whereas the crest value should be as high as possible in respect of the electrode geometry, namely, over some tens of kilovolts. These conditions require special instrumentation for the correct measurement of the voltage and associated current waveforms. This paper illustrates the setup used for investigating the phenomenon and reports the results obtained in a series of laboratory tests.
