Current measurement in electrical discharges in air gaps for conducted noise estimation

In this paper current rising time and power spectral density in electrical discharges in overvoltaged air gaps with different electrode geometries are investigated in order to perform a preliminary study on the characteristics of the conducted electrical disturbances. The main objective of this work is to study spontaneously generated sparks, without using any UV or similar pre-ionization methods, in order to reproduce as close as possible real life electrical or electrostatic discharges. An experimental set up was implemented and highly reproducible discharge currents waveforms were obtained.