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Dimensional Analysis of Detrimental Ozone Generation

by Negative Wire-to-Plate Corona Discharge in Both Dry
and Humid Air
a b b b b
Zheng Bo , Ganhua Lu , Pengxiang Wang & Junhong Chen
a
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Institute for Thermal Power Engineering,
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 310027, China
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, 53211, USA
Published online: 23 Jan 2013.

To cite this article: Zheng Bo , Ganhua Lu , Pengxiang Wang & Junhong Chen (2013): Dimensional Analysis of Detrimental
Ozone Generation by Negative Wire-to-Plate Corona Discharge in Both Dry and Humid Air, Ozone: Science & Engineering: The
Journal of the International Ozone Association, 35:1, 31-37

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 Ozone: Science & Engineering, 35: 31–37
Copyright © 2013 International Ozone Association
ISSN: 0191-9512 print / 1547-6545 online
DOI: 10.1080/01919512.2013.721286
Dimensional Analysis of Detrimental Ozone Generation
by Negative Wire-to-Plate Corona Discharge in Both Dry
and Humid Air
Zheng Bo,1,2 Ganhua Lu,2 Pengxiang Wang,2 and Junhong Chen2
1
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Institute for Thermal Power Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou,
Zhejiang Province 310027, China
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, USA
Downloaded by [University of Arizona] at 14:36 18 June 2013
A semi-empirical equation is derived to provide a
correlation between the ozone generation rate of a negative
wire-to-plate corona discharge in both dry and humid air and
a series of design/operating parameters. A basic correlation
is first derived by applying dimensional analysis on negative
wire-to-plate corona discharge in dry air. Further develop-
ment on the basic correlation is carried out by integrating
the influence of humidity. The derived equation is validated by
previously reported experimental data and numerical model.
The new semi-empirical equation is comprehensive and use-
ful in guiding the design/operation of indoor corona devices
under actual ambient operating conditions.
Keywords Ozone, Ozone Generation, Corona Discharge,
Dimensional Analysis, Negative, Humidity,
Wire-to-Plate Corona Discharge
INTRODUCTION
Although ozone naturally in stratosphere can protect life
on earth from the sun’s harmful rays, ozone in the lower
atmosphere, i.e., the so-called ground level ozone, is an
air pollutant. Particularly, the indoor ground level ozone
is harmful to human respiratory system and to lung func-
tion. It could potentially cause/aggravate chest pains, asthma,
coughing, shortness of breath, and throat irritation (Sheffield
et al. 2011) when the ozone concentration is at an excess
level, e.g., 0.075 parts-per-million (ppm) defined by U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the the maxi-
mum acceptable 8-h average concentration of ground level
Received 2/10/2012; Accepted 5/22/2012
Address correspondence to Junhong Chen, Department of
Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, USA. E-mail: jhchen@uwm.edu
Dimensional Analysis of Ozone Generation by Negative Corona Discharge
ozone. Different from the outdoor ground level ozone, which
is usually directly emitted from chemical solvents and vehicle
exhausts or formed at the presence of sunlight by reactions
of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, indoor ground level
ozone is primarily released as a by-product of electrostatic
processes. Corona discharges of indoor electrostatic devices,
such as laser printers, photocopiers, and electrostatic precip-
itators, etc., are responsible for the generation of detrimental
ozone. The prediction of ozone formation is thus meaningful
to support the practical design of these electrostatic devices
and the selection of an appropriate set of operating conditions.
The authors previously proposed a semi-empirical formu-
lation using the dimensional analysis technique (Bo and Chen
2010), providing a correlation between the ozone generation
rate and a series of design/operating parameters for indoor
electrostatic devices using positive wire-to-plate corona dis-
charge. Only dry air discharge was considered in our pre-
vious work for simplicity, yet it has been widely reported
that the humidity significantly influences corona behaviors
(Abdelsalam 1985; Feser 1972; Gallo et al. 1969) and ozone
generation (Chen and Wang 2005; Peyrous 1990; Skalny
et al. 2008). Previous experimental and theoretical research
revealed that the influences of humidity on ozone generation
mainly include: (i) the humidity-induced a shift of the corona
inception voltage (Gallo et al. 1969; Goldman et al. 1985);
(ii) the humidity-induced dissociative attachment of electrons
(Eichwald et al. 1997; Knapp et al. 1987) and quenching
of O(1 D) and O(1 S) excited states (Herron and Green 2001;
Skalny et al. 2008), e.g., e + H2 O → H + OH + e; and (iii)
the humidity-induced ozone destruction (Buntat et al. 2003;
Samaranayake et al. 2000), e.g., OH + O3 → HO2 +O2 .
In this work, the dimensional analysis is extended to the
negative wire-to-plate corona discharge, where a higher ozone
production rate is observed compared with their positive
January–February 2013 31
 counterparts (Boelter and Davidson 1997; Chen and Davidson
2003; Skalny et al. 2008). In particular, the influence of
humidity on the ozone generation is considered. As the first
step, a basic correlation was derived by applying dimensional
analysis on the dry air negative wire-to-plate corona discharge
with experimental determination of dimensional relation via
36 lab-scale tests. Further development on the basic correla-
tion was carried out by involving the effect of humidity on
the ozone generation, aiming at an improved, more compre-
hensive correlation that is potentially applicable for actual
operation conditions of indoor corona devices (i.e., ambient
air). Finally, the derived equation was validated with previ-
ously published experimental data and numerical modeling
results.
DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS ON DRY AIR
DISCHARGE
Dimensional System and Dimensionless Products
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The details on the selection of physical parameters and
arithmetic of the dimensions have been presented in our pre-
vious work (Bo and Chen 2010). Based on the Buckingham’s
theorem (Szirtes and Rozsa, 2006), a dimensional relation in
a plausible monomial form was derived as Equation [1]:
 a k2  k3
r0 μ V
= k1 [1]
ε(V − Vi ) d V − Vi
where k1 , k2, and k3 are constants yet to be determined.
Experimental Determination of Dimensional
Relation
Constants k1 , k2 , and k3 in the dimensional relation, i.e.,
Equation [1], were determined by linear regression analysis
based on results from 36 laboratory-scale experiments. High-
purity cylinder air (1.5 cm3 /min) was used as the feed gas.
The experimental setup, sampling, and analytical methods in

the current work were the same as those described in our pre-
The dimensional system was constructed by involving vious work on the positive discharge (Bo and Chen, 2010); the
seven physical parameters (i.e., the ozone generation rate per only exception was that a negative direct current (DC) high
unit length of wire in dry air (r0 , unit: mg/(s·m)), the wire voltage power supply (0 to -10,000 V adjustable) was used to
radius (a, unit: mm), the inter-electrode gap (d, unit: mm), the produce and sustain the negative corona discharges, instead of
applied voltage (V, unit: V), the excess voltage (V e , unit: V) the previously used positive one (0 to +7,000 V adjustable).
which is referred to as the difference between the applied Corona discharges were produced in a transparent polymethyl
voltage (V, unit: V) and the corona inception voltage (V i , methacrylate chamber with a confined volume of ∼85.8 cm3 .
unit: V), the permittivity for the inter-electrode drift region Tungsten wires (99.95% commercial pure tungsten,
(ε, unit: F/m), and the ion mobility (µ, unit: m2 /(V·s))), and 0.0889 mm, 0.0762 mm and 0.0635 mm in radius, respec-
four fundamental entities (i.e., mass (M), length (L), time (T), tively, and 5 mm in active length) were used as the discharge
and current (A)). Therefore, we could obtain the following electrodes. The edges/ends of tungsten wires were wrapped
dimensional matrix: by a well-designed Teflon sleeve to avoid undesirable dis-
charges. The axis of the tungsten wire was perpendicular to
r0 a V d Ve ε μ
the direction of gas flow. A highly polished brass plate with an
M 1 0 1 0 1 −1 −1 area of ∼78.5 mm2 was connected to the ground and served
L −1 1 2 1 2 −3 0 as the passive electrode. For d = 2 mm, 13.5 cm3 /min dry
T −1 0 −3 0 −3 4 2 air was used to dilute the output gas, avoiding an upper mea-
A 0 0 −1 0 −1 2 1 surement limit of 10,000 parts per billion (ppb) of our ozone
analyzer.
and the following dimensional set: Figure 1 shows experimental results of ozone generation
rate per unit length of wire in dry air (r0 ) for various wire
r0 a V d Ve ε μ radii (a = 0.0889, 0.0762, and 0.0635 mm) and inter-electrode
M 1 0 1 0 1 −1 −1 gaps (d = 2, 8, and 14 mm). The applied voltage (V) was in
L −1 1 2 1 2 −3 0 the range of 1.135V i to 1.856V i , where the inception voltage
T −1 0 −3 0 −3 4 2 (V i ) for each set of discharge conditions was calculated by
A 0 0 −1 0 −1 2 1 combining Peek’s law (Peek 1929) for corona inception field
strength with White’s equation (White 1963) for wire-to-plate
π1 1 0 0 0 −1 −1 1 geometry, assuming the irregularity factor as 1 (smooth wire
π2 0 1 0 −1 0 0 0 surface):
π3 0 0 1 0 −1 0 0
    
Three dimensionless products were obtained with the indi- T0 P 10T0 P 4d
Vi = 3 × 10 a
3
+ 0.3 ln [2]
cial method (Szirtes and Rozsa 2006): TP0 TP0 a πa

r0 μ a V where T0 and P0 are the reference temperature (298 K)

π1 = , π2 = , and π3 =
εVe d Ve and pressure (101,325 Pa), respectively. The actual inception

32 Z. Bo et al. January–February 2013

 DEVELOPMENT OF THE CORRELATION FOR
HUMID AIR DISCHARGE
Control and Measurement of Relative Humidity
The feed gas was humidified by flowing it through an
impinger containing deionized water. To vary the feed gas
moisture, the temperature of the impinger was controlled and
adjusted by a heating thermostat (model: RE108 with control
head E 100; Lauda Ecoline, Delran, NJ, USA). An elec-
tronic hygrometer (repeatability: ±0.3%; model: Humi-Chek
5; Beckman Industrial, Brea, CA, USA) was inserted into the
reactor chamber (Bo and Chen 2010) to measure the relative
humidity (RH) of discharge gas. The reactor chamber was
located in atmospheric condition with a temperature of 25.0 ±
0.5 o C. For each set of conditions, ∼10 min was allowed for
stabilization before discharge. Figure 2 shows a typical fluc-
tuation of the relative humidity of the discharge gas in 120 s
with a sampling interval of 5 s, presenting a standard devia-
tion as low as ∼0.27% of the average value and thus proves
the stabilization.
Downloaded by [University of Arizona] at 14:36 18 June 2013

Humidity-Induced Shift of Inception Voltage

FIGURE 1. Experimental data on ozone generation rate per
unit length of wire collected from 36 tests with various discharge
conditions. Relative humidity RH = 0 (a = wire radius, mm).
voltages obtained in the current experiments agreed well with
Equation [2].
With linear regression analysis based on experimental
results, k1 , k2, and k3 in equation [1] can be determined as:
k1 = 13,323,723 ≈ 1.33×107 , k2 = 1.995479077 ≈ 2, and k3 =
−0.221242918 ≈ −0.2, with a correlation coefficient (R2 ) of
0.9876. Thus, Equation [1] can be written as:
In humidified air, the water content in the inter-electrode
space, together with miniscule water droplets (Gallo et al.
1969) and semi-liquid layer (Goldman et al. 1985) rapidly
formed on the electrode surface, will promote the ioniza-
tion and decrease the discharge corona threshold potential,
which can be attributed to the lower ionization potential
of water molecules and related H2 O2 , OH, and O3 species
(compared with common air constituents) (Abdelsalam 1985;
Gallo et al. 1969), as well as the enhanced photoioniza-
tion process (Janischewskyj and Beattie 1972; Khalifa and
Debieky 1971). Consequently, humidity can lead to a decrease
in the corona inception voltage and further trigger the ozone
emission at a lower supply voltage.

 a 2  −0.2
r0 μ V
= 1.33 × 107 [3]
ε(V − Vi ) d V − Vi

or

εa2 (V − Vi )1.2
r0 = 1.33 × 107 [4]
μV 0.2 d2

Substituting Equation [2] into Equation [4], we can get

a basic correlation between the ozone generation rate and a
series of design/operating parameters for negative wire-to-
plate corona discharge in dry air (i.e., RH = 0):

T0 P
εa2 V − 3 × 103 a
TP0
 ⎞
 ⎤1.2
10T0 P ⎟ 4d ⎥
+0.3 ⎟ ln
⎠
⎥
FIGURE 2. A typical fluctuation of the relative humidity of the
TP0 a πa ⎦ discharge gas in 120 s before discharge (color figure available
r = 1.33 × 10
0 7
[5] online).
μV 0.2 d2

Dimensional Analysis of Ozone Generation by Negative Corona Discharge January–February 2013 33

 In this work, the corona inception voltage was experimen- as a function of RH (unit: %) with a coefficient of multiple
tally determined by defining it as a critical voltage value determination R2 = 0.914:
leading to an exponential increase of the discharge current.
As an example, Figure 3 shows the discharge currents near Φ = 1 − 2.26 × 10−3 RH [7]
the corona inception for the discharge condition of a =
0.0889 mm, d = 8 mm, l = 5 mm, and RH = 0. For each A modified Peek’s law was thus obtained as Equation [8],
supply voltage, after a 10-min stabilization of the discharge, which could predict the corona initiation electric field in
160–165 samples were automatically collected by LabView humid air EiRH (unit: V/m), assuming the irregularity factor as
software in 60 s. The time-averaged discharge current was 1 (smooth wire surface):
calculated and used as the typical discharge current intensity.   
As shown in Figure 3, with the increase of the supply voltage T P 10T P
= 3 × 106 (1 − 2.26 × 10−3 RH)
0 0
EiRH + 0.3
from 4,900 V to 5,000 V, the discharge current experienced TP0 TP0
an exponential increase from ∼10−7 to ∼10−6 A. This abrupt [8]
increase in the discharge current is due to the self-sustaining
electron avalanche, and thus indicates the onset of the corona
discharge. With this method, we obtained the corona inception Humidity-Induced Attachment and Quenching
voltage for discharges at various conditions. Excited molecules play an important role in the ozone
Figure 4(a) presents the influence of humidity on the chemistry. Typically for negative corona discharges, the
corona inception voltage for nine sets of discharge geometries following reactions contribute to about 90% of ozone forma-
(i.e., a = 0.0889 mm, d = 2 mm; a = 0.0889 mm, d = 8 mm; tion according to our previous modeling results (Chen and
Downloaded by [University of Arizona] at 14:36 18 June 2013

a = 0.0889 mm, d = 14 mm; a = 0.0762 mm, d = 2 mm; Davidson 2003):

a = 0.0762 mm, d = 8 mm; a = 0.0762 mm, d = 14 mm; a =
0.0635 mm, d = 2 mm; a = 0.0635 mm, d = 8 mm; and a = e + O2 = O∗2 + e [9]
0.0635 mm, d = 14 mm). Based on these results, a coefficient
Φ defined as the ratio of the corona inception voltages in dry e + N2 = N∗2 + e [10]
and humid air was calculated as Equation [6]:
O∗2 + O2 = O3 + O [11]
ViRH
Φ= [6]
Vi0 N∗2 + O2 = N2 + 2O [12]

where V i 0 is the corona inception voltage for dry air (i.e.,
RH = 0), and V i RH is the corona inception voltage for a given
RH value of humid air (i.e., RH > 0); both V i 0 and V i RH are
experimentally determined using the method described here.
The dependence of coefficient Φ on relative humidity is
presented in Figure 4(b). With the data fitting on experimental
results shown in Figure 4(b), the coefficient Φ was written
N∗2 + O2 = N2 O + O [13]
Consequently, the ozone formation rate is significantly
influenced by the number of energetic electrons and exited
molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. Previous research revealed
that the humidity would lead to the dissociative attachment
of electrons (Eichwald et al. 1997; Knapp et al. 1987) and

FIGURE 3. Typical discharge current samples near the corona inception for a = 0.0889 mm, d = 8 mm, l = 5 mm, and RH = 0 (color figure
available online).

34 Z. Bo et al. January–February 2013

Downloaded by [University of Arizona] at 14:36 18 June 2013

FIGURE 4. Dependence of (a) corona inception voltage and (b)
coefficient on relative humidity for various discharge conditions
(a = 0.0889 mm, d = 2 mm; a = 0.0889 mm, d = 8 mm; a =
0.0889 mm, d = 14 mm; a = 0.0762 mm, d = 2 mm; a =
0.0762 mm, d = 8 mm; a = 0.0762 mm, d = 14 mm; a =
0.0635 mm, d = 2 mm; a = 0.0635 mm, d = 8 mm; and a =
0.0635 mm, d = 14 mm) (color figure available online).
FIGURE 5. Dependence of (a) ozone generation rate per unit
length of wire and (b) coefficient on relative humidity for various
discharge conditions (a = 0.0889 mm, d = 2 mm; a = 0.0889 mm,
d = 8 mm; a = 0.0762 mm, d = 2 mm; a = 0.0762 mm, d = 8 mm;
a = 0.0635 mm, d = 2 mm; and a = 0.0635 mm, d = 8 mm) (color
figure available online).

the quenching of excited molecules (e.g., O(1 D) and O(1 S))
(Herron and Green 2001; Skalny et al. 2008), both of which
would lead to a decrease in the ozone generation rate.
Figure 5(a) shows the dependence of ozone generation rate
per unit length of wire on the relative humidity for six sets
of discharge geometries (a = 0.0889 mm, d = 2 mm; a =
0.0889 mm, d = 8 mm; a = 0.0762 mm, d = 2 mm; a =
0.0762 mm, d = 8 mm; a = 0.0635 mm, d = 2 mm; and
a = 0.0635 mm, d = 8 mm). Based on these results, a coef-
ficient η defined as the ratio of the ozone generation rates per
unit length of wire in dry and humid air was calculated as
Equation [14]:
The dependence of coefficient η on the relative humid-
ity is presented in Figure 5(b). With the data fitting on the
experimental results shown in Figure 4(b) and a coefficient of
multiple determination R2 = 0.969, the coefficient η can be
written as a function of RH (unit: %):
1
η= [15]
1 + 0.02RH + 1.7e−4 RH 2
Substituting Equations [6], [7], [14] and [15] into
Equation [5], we can get:

rRH 
η= [14] εa2 V − 3 × 103 a(1 − 2.26 × 10−3 RH)
r0     ⎤1.2
T0 P 10T0 P 4d ⎥
where r0 is the ozone generation rates per unit length of wire + 0.3 ln ⎥
TP0 TP0 a πa ⎦
for dry air (i.e., RH = 0), and rRH is the ozone generation
rRH = 1.33 × 107
rates per unit length of wire for humid air with a given RH μV 0.2 d2 (1 + 0.02RH + 1.7e−4 RH 2 )
value (i.e., RH > 0), respectively. [16]

Dimensional Analysis of Ozone Generation by Negative Corona Discharge January–February 2013 35

 For negative discharges in atmospheric dry air where ε =
8.86×10−12 F/m, µ = 2.7×10−4 m2 /(V·s), T = T0 , and P =
P0 , Equation [16] can be further simplified as:

0.44a2 V − a(3 × 103 − 6.78RH)
    ⎤1.2
10 4d ⎥
1 + 0.3 ln ⎦
a πa
rRH = [17]
V 0.2 d2 (1 + 0.02RH + 1.7e−4 RH 2 )
with the units of rRH , a, d, V, and RH being mg/(s·m),
mm, mm, V, and %, respectively. It should be noted that
Equation [16] is a semi-empirical equation and some key con-
stants are determined by linear regression analysis based on
experimental results. Consequently, following critical param-
eter ranges are recommended to warrant a precise prediction:
V/V i = 1.135–1.856 and a/d = 0.0045–0.0445.
Downloaded by [University of Arizona] at 14:36 18 June 2013
Humidity-Induced Ozone Destruction
According to our previous modeling results (Chen and
Wang 2005), the ozone destruction (Buntat et al. 2003;
Samaranayake et al. 2000) in humid air is primarily induced
by the OH radicals, rather than the NO radicals playing pre-
dominant roles in the ozone destruction in dry air. However,
the humidity-induced ozone destruction was neglected in the
current work because the residence time of air in practical
indoor corona devices is commonly much less than the charac-
teristic time scales for the destruction of homogeneous ozone,
which is on the order of 100 ms, according to our previ-
ous modeling results (Wang and Chen 2009). Consequently,
Equation [17] can be used as a conservative estimate of ozone
production of corona devices under real operating conditions.
VALIDATION
Comparison with Experimental Data by Other
Researchers
The derived correlation, i.e., Equation [17], is vali-
dated with previously published experimental observations.
Experimental data in Figure 6 are obtained from Boelter
and Davidson’s work on ozone generation from a wire-plate
indoor electronic air cleaner, where tungsten wires of 0.125,
0.1 and 0.05 mm in radii (a) were used to produce neg-
ative corona discharges with an inter-electrode gap (d) of
20 mm (Boelter and Davidson 1997). The experiments were
conducted with relative humidity of 44–58% (Boelter and
Davidson 1997), and thus an average value of 51% was
adopted for the theoretical calculation. Figure 6 presents the
dependence of ozone generation rate per unit length of wire
on the supply voltage calculated using Equation [17], together
with a comparison with the published experimental results.
The experimental data and our predicted values share the same
trend and are on the same order of magnitude, showing good
agreements in general.
36 Z. Bo et al.
FIGURE 6. Comparison of ozone generation rate per unit length
of wire between predicted values and published experimental
results from Boelter and Davidson’s (1997) work (color figure
available online).
Comparison with Numerical Model
The derived correlation, i.e., Equation [17], is also vali-
dated with a numerical model (Chen and Wang 2005; Wang
and Chen 2009) previously developed by the authors, which
combines the electron distribution in the corona plasma,
plasma chemistry and transport phenomena. Based on the
numerical modeling results, the dependence of ozone gener-
ation rate on relative humidity for wire radius (a) of 0.1 mm
and linear current density (i) of 2.55 µA/cm was presented.
For comparison, the derived correlation, i.e., Equation [17],
was used to calculate the ozone generation for the same oper-
ation condition (i.e., a = 0.1 mm and i = 2.55 µA/cm). Seven
different inter-electrode gaps were considered herein, i.e., d =
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, and 20 mm, respectively. For each inter-
electrode gap, the supply voltage V was calculated according
to Cooperman’s model (Cooperman and Davidson 1960) with
a fixed linear current density of 2.55 µA/cm. Then the ozone
generation rate per unit length of wire was calculated using
Equation [17]. The comparison presented in Figure 7 indicates
that results calculated by the derived correlation qualitatively
agree with the numerical modeling data.
CONCLUSION
The correlation derived in the current work is a use-
ful tool for the prediction of ozone generation by nega-
tive wire-to-plate corona discharges in both dry and humid
air. The predicted ozone generation rate per unit length of
wire agrees well with published experimental data and the
prediction using our previously reported numerical model.
With the method described in our previous work for pos-
itive corona discharges (Bo and Chen 2010), the newly
derived correlation can be used in guiding the selection of
suitable design/operation parameters (the wire radius, the
January–February 2013

FIGURE 7. The dependence of ozone generation rate per unit
length of wire on relative humidity predicted by the numerical
model (dash line) and the currently derived correlation (solid lines),
respectively (a = 0.1 mm and i = 2.55 A/cm) (color figure available
online).
Downloaded by [University of Arizona] at 14:36 18 June 2013
inter-electrode distance and the applied voltage) as long as two
out of the three parameters are known, to make sure the ozone
generation from indoor corona devices follow requirements
specified by the Code of Federal Regulations. Compared with
previous numerical model, the more facile procedure will
facilitate the determination of various parameters for practical
design and operation of negative corona discharge devices.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We acknowledge the financial support from the National
Science Foundation (CBET-0741336) and Xerox Corporation.
Z. B. acknowledges the research fellow support from the
UWM Research Foundation and the financial support from
the Foundation of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of
China (201238), the Qianjiang Talent Project (2012 R 10028),
and the Innovation Program of State Key Laboratory of Clean
Energy Utilization (ZJUCEU2011009).
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