The role of varied metal protrusions on the conductor surfaces in corona discharge subjected to DC high voltages

Conductor corona performance is significant in the evaluation of electromagnetic environment for high voltage power transmission lines. The influence of artificial contaminated conductors on corona discharge was studied and turned out to be complicated. The ionized field strength on the corona cage was measured by field mill. Meanwhile, photos of corona plumes were photographed and grayed to quantitate the corona discharge intensity. Subsequently, a calculation model for equivalent electric field strength coefficient was established to evaluate the discharge intensity of conductors in coaxial cylindrical electrode. It could be found the computational results achieved an agreement with the observed experimental phenomena. By means of simulation results, a reasonable explanation was given to the finding that the closer the distance between the two protrusions was, the lower the corona discharge intensity and higher corona inception voltage of the conductors would be. In summary, the distributions of corona sources played an important role in the corona discharge and this work would provide an important reference for the evaluation of corona effects on the surface of contaminated conductors.