766 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 37, NO.

3, MAY/JUNE 2001

Corona Inception in Typical Electrode Configurations

for Electrostatic Processes Applications
Dan Rafiroiu, Ilie Suarasan, Roman Morar, Senior Member, IEEE, Pierre Atten, and
Lucian Dascalescu, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—The corona inception electric field at the surface of

a wire electrode is usually evaluated by an empirical formula es-
tablished by Peek. That formula was found to be valid in several
simple electrode configurations (wire cylinder, wire plate), which
are typical to electrostatic precipitators. The aim of this paper is to
extend the study to other situations encountered in electrostatic ap-
plications. The experimental setup specifically modeled the several
electrode arrangements which are commonly used with roll-type
electrostatic separators. It consisted of wire-type corona electrodes,
connected to a regulated dc high-voltage supply, and a rotating
roll electrode, connected to the ground. The effect of associating
the corona wire to one or several tubular electrodes of various
shapes and sizes was investigated. The experimentally determined
corona inception voltage was used as input data of a boundary-ele- Fig. 1. Schematic representation of a “dual” corona electrode (L: wire length;
ment-method program for the electric field computation. The com- r : wire radius; R : radius of the tubular element; h : distance between the wire
puted values of the electric field were compared with those given and the tubular element).
by Peek’s formula for wire electrodes of the same radius. The de-
rived conclusions can be of help in the custom design of the corona
charge neutralizers, ozone generators, electrostatic separators
electrode arrangements for various electrostatic applications.
[6]–[8].
Index Terms—Corona discharge, electric field computation, The most widely used are the wire-type electrodes, because of
electrostatic applications, high voltage, wire electrodes. their simplicity and low cost. Fragility is their main drawback,
and attempts have been made to replace them, in some applica-
I. INTRODUCTION tions, with blade-type electrodes [9]. The latter are more robust,
but are usually characterized by higher corona onset voltages.

C ORONA discharge is employed in many electrostatic pro-

cesses: gas cleaning, air ionization, spraying of powders,
and separation of granular mixtures [1]–[5]. A wide variety of
Needle-type corona electrodes are currently employed for air
ionization and ozone generation, but seem less appropriate for
electrostatic separation applications [10], [11] mainly because
corona electrodes have been developed for the various types of nonuniform spatial distribution of the discharge. Several in-
of installations: electric air filters, plasma chemical reactors, novatory models of needle-type electrodes have been tested at
the High-Intensity Electric Fields Laboratory of the Technical
University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania [12]. In spite
of an extensive research and development effort [13], [14], in-
Paper MSDAD-S 01–05, presented at the 1999 Industry Applications Society dustry remains reluctant to wide-scale application of the mul-
Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, October 3–7, and approved for publication in tiple-needle electrode concept, proposed by the authors. The
the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the Electrostatic Pro- manufacturing difficulties and the higher costs represent serious
cesses Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. Manuscript sub-
mitted for review October 15, 1999 and released for publication February 28, obstacles to imposing the use of these electrodes outside re-
2001. The work of D. Rafiroiu was supported by a Research Fellowship offered search laboratories.
by the French Government to prepare a Ph.D. dissertation in physics at the Uni- Under these circumstances, wire-type corona electrodes are
versity “Joseph Fourier” of Grenoble.
D. Rafiroiu is with the High-Intensity Electric Fields Laboratory, Technical expected to maintain their leading position in industry applica-
University of Cluj-Napoca, 3400 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and also with Equipe tions. Thus, the authors’ decision to go thoroughly into the study
“Electronique et Electrostatique,” Laboratoire d’Automatique et d’Informa- of corona discharge from this type of electrode is well justified.
tique Industrielle, LAII–ESIP, UPRES EA 1219, Institut Universitaire de
Technologie, 16021 Angoulême, France (e-mail: Dan.Rafiroiu@et.utcluj.ro). In most industrial applications, the corona wire is attached
I. Suarasan and R. Morar are with the High-Intensity Electric Fields Labora- to a metallic cylinder, as shown in Fig. 1. Besides its role of
tory, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 3400 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. mechanical support, the tubular element has also a significant
P. Attten is with the Laboratoire d’Elecrostatique et de Matériaux
Diélectriques, CNRS-UJF, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France (e-mail:
influence on the onset and development of the corona discharge.
Atten@labs.polycnrs-gre.fr). In a previous paper, the authors pointed out these effects and
L. Dascalescu is with Equipe “Electronique et Electrostatique,” Laboratoire made a first attempt to quantify them, for the peculiar case of a
d’Automatique et d’Informatique Industrielle, LAII–ESIP, UPRES EA 1219, roll-type corona-electrostatic separator [15].
Institut Universitaire de Technologie, 16021 Angoulême, France (e-mail: ldas-
calescu@iutang.univ-poitiers.fr). The present paper aims at providing a deeper insight into
Publisher Item Identifier S 0093-9994(01)03931-7. the complex problem of corona inception in various electrode
0093–9994/01$10.00 © 2001 IEEE
RAFIROIU et al.: CORONA INCEPTION IN TYPICAL ELECTRODE CONFIGURATIONS 767

Fig. 2. Typical electrode arrangement of a corona-electrostatic roll-type

separator ( 1: corona electrode; 2: tubular high-voltage electrode; 3: roll
electrode connected to the ground).
Fig. 3. CSP representation of a dual-type corona electrode, connected at a
high-voltage V , and situated at a distance h above a grounded roll electrode.
arrangements of practical interest. Firstly, a series of experi-
ments were carried out in order to study the influence of elec- III. NUMERICAL COMPUTATION OF THE ELECTRIC FIELD
trode geometry on two important performance characteristics:
the corona onset voltage and the distribution of corona current For an applied voltage below corona onset, the electric field
density at the surface of the collecting (grounded) electrode. is described by the Laplace equation
Secondly, a numerical method of electric field analysis was em-
ployed with the intention of explaining the experimental find- (1)
ings and paving the way for the formulation of some design rec-
ommendations. Finally, the peculiarities of the electrode system Of the various numerical methods available for integrating
of a roll-type corona-electrostatic separator are discussed. this equation [18]–[20], the boundary-element method (BEM)
seems to be the most appropriate, because of its capability to
model infinite domains and intricate electrode geometries [21],
[22]. The “Charge Simulation Program” (CSP), developed by
II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Prof. Levin and his group [23], is provided with interactive data
input, error-checking facilities, and advanced post-processing
Two types of corona electrodes, respectively designated as capabilities.
“simple” and “dual,” were tested. They could be placed at a For a given geometry (Fig. 3) and a fixed voltage , the
distance ranging from 10 to 50 mm above a grounded metallic CSP computes the electric field strength at the surface of
cylinder (diameter: 150 mm). The simple electrodes consisted
the wire electrode of radius , situated at a distance from
of tungsten wires, of various diameters, ranging from 0.150 to 1
a collecting electrode of radius . Let be the corona onset
mm. The dual electrodes were made of the same wires, attached
voltage experimentally determined for a wire of radius , sit-
to a stainless steel tube, 25 mm in diameter (Fig. 1).
uated at a distance from a collecting electrode of radius
The corona electrodes were connected to a fully regulated,
electronic high-voltage supply (30 kV, 150 A, negative po- . The corresponding electric field
larity). In some experiments, a second tubular electrode was strength at the surface of the corona wire can be determined
connected to the same high-voltage supply [16]. Represented in as
Fig. 2 is a roll-type corona-electrostatic separator [17], provided
(2)
with a “dual” corona electrode (1) and a tubular “electrostatic”
electrode (2), both connected to the same high-voltage supply. and compared with the value given by Peek’s formula for air at
In this type of electrostatic device, the electric field is generated atmospheric pressure [8]
between the two high-voltage electrodes and a roll electrode (3)
connected to the ground.
kV/cm (3)
An electrostatic kilovoltmeter and a picoammeter were em-
ployed for the determination of the current–voltage character-
istics of the various electrode arrangements. The corona onset
IV. RESULTS
voltage corresponded to a sudden rise in current, of more than
one order of magnitude. Two sets of current–voltage characteristics obtained for sev-
The experiments were carried out in ambient air, at a temper- eral simple and dual wire-type corona electrodes are presented
ature of 20 C, and a relative humidity of 50%–80%. in Figs. 4 and 5. The third set of data, presented in Fig. 6, were
768 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 37, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 2001

Fig. 6. Current–voltage characteristics of a dual wire-type electrode, in the

Fig. 4. Current–voltage characteristics of three wire-type electrodes. The
presence of a tubular electrode, for three values of wire diameter and h = 25
=
distance between the wire and the grounded electrode was h 25 mm.
mm.

Fig. 5. Current–voltage characteristics of a dual wire-type electrode, for three

values of wire diameter and h = 25 mm. Fig. 7. Corona onset voltage for three electrode arrangements. The distance
between the corona wire and the grounded electrode and h = 25 mm.

recorded for the dual electrode arrangement in the presence of employed for generating corona. For simple wire-cylinder or
the additional tubular electrode. wire-plate arrangements, Peek’s formula can be used for evalu-
The corona onset voltages measured in these experiments are ating the various designs.
represented as a function of wire radius in Fig. 7. Could the researcher or the engineer use the same formula in
For each electrode arrangement, the CSP enables the estima- the case of a different electrode arrangement? How could he/she
tion of the electric field strength at the surface of the wire at determine the high voltage to be applied to the wire electrode
corona onset. These results were compared with the predicted so as to ensure at its surface the electric field strength given by
values computed with Peek’s formula (Fig. 8). such a formula? The paper gives a positive answer to the first
question for most usual electrostatic applications, and presents a
V. DISCUSSION numerical method of field computation that could be the answer
The relative scarcity of knowledge on the corona discharges to the second one.
is a major difficulty in the development of certain electrostatic The data in Fig. 8 confirm that Peek’s formula can be used for
processes. The engineer in charge of the design of new equip- engineering purposes, at least in two of the three electrode ar-
ment will hardly find any information on the electrodes to be rangements studied here; the relative error will not exceed 5% if
RAFIROIU et al.: CORONA INCEPTION IN TYPICAL ELECTRODE CONFIGURATIONS 769

Fig. 8. CSP-computed maximum electric field strength at the surface of the

wire element of the three electrode arrangements, at corona onset, as a function
of wire diameter. Comparison with the values given by Peek’s formula. The
=
distance between the corona wire and the grounded electrode was h 25 mm.

the wire diameter is 0.5 mm or larger. For thinner wires, it seems

that a correction factor should be applied to Peek’s formula. The
electric field strength at corona onset was found to be lower than
the values predicted by Peek. Nevertheless, the imperfections
of the tested electrode models prevent the formulation of a de-
finitive conclusion. Further experiments, under thoroughly con-
trolled conditions, should be performed with calibrated wires of
diameters smaller than 0.25 mm, for which the accuracy of the
present corona onset determination is still questionable.
In all cases, the corona onset voltage decreases with the de-
crease of wire diameter (Figs. 4–6). Even if for a given wire
radius the electric field strength at the surface of the active el-
ement varies little from one electrode arrangement to another, Fig. 9. (a) Print of “Surface Charge Simulation Program” (SCSP) screen
the presence of a tubular support and of an additional tubular visualizing the equipotential lines for a dual wire-type electrode associated
with a tubular electrode connected at the same high-voltage supply. SCSP is an
electrode determines an increase of the respective corona onset updated version of CSP. (b) Equipotential and electric field lines in the central
voltage (Fig. 7). This observation is particularly important in zone of the electrode system.
certain applications of roll-type corona-electrostatic separators,
where such an additional tubular electrode is employed for en- of the space charge in the active zone of the equipment which
hancing the action of the electric field on fine conducting parti- makes use of them. As the time constant of the corona charging
cles. process [24] is inversely proportional to , it can be concluded
The metallic support of the dual electrode and the tubular that the use of thinner wires could accelerate the charging
electrode connected at the same voltage modify the distribu- process. On the other hand, the maximum charge acquired
tion of the electric field in the proximity of the corona wire by a particle in a corona discharge is proportional with the
(Fig. 9). In order to obtain the same corona current, the applied local field strength of the electric field, which depends on
voltage should be higher when the corona wire is associated the applied voltage. The sparkover voltage of wire electrodes
with such elements (Fig. 10). The high-voltage supply should be decreases with the decrease of wire radius. Consequently, in
rated accordingly and must be able to stand the spark discharges those electrostatic processes the efficiency of which is directly
that occur during the processing of certain granular materials related to , the decrease of wire radius is not recommended.
containing elongated metallic particles (electrostatic separation
of copper from chopped electric wire wastes). The frequency
of these discharges increases with the increase of the applied
VI. CONCLUSIONS
voltage, imposing an additional stress to the high-voltage sup-
plies. Characterization of corona discharges from wire electrodes
At a given voltage beyond the corona onset level, the thinner requires the use of both accurate experimental techniques and
the wire, the higher the current and the larger the densities appropriate numerical methods of electric field analysis.
770 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 37, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 2001

[8] A. Mizuno, K. Shimizu, A. Chakrabarti, L. Dascalescu, and S. Furuta,

“No removal process using pulsed discharge plasma,” IEEE Trans. Ind.
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Japan: TUT Press, 1993.
[10] A. Iuga, L. Dascalescu, R. Morar, I. Csorvassy, and V. Neamtu,
“Corona-electrostatic separators for recovery of waste nonferrous
metals,” J. Electrostatics, vol. 23, pp. 235–243, 1989.
[11] A. Iuga, R. Morar, L. Dascalescu, A. Samuila, and D. Rafiroiu, “A new
type of corona electrode for high-tension separators,” Magn. Elect. Sep-
aration, vol. 4, pp. 75–90, 1993.
[12] R. Morar, A. Iuga, L. Dascalescu, and A. Samuila, “Factors which influ-
ence the insulation-metal electroseparation,” J. Electrostatics, vol. 30,
pp. 403–412, 1993.
[13] L. Dascalescu, A. Iuga, R. Morar, V. Neamtu, I. Suarasan, A. Samuila,
and D. Rafiroiu, “Corona and electrostatic electrodes for high-tension
separators,” J. Electrostatics, vol. 29, pp. 211–225, 1993.
[14] L. Dascalescu, A. Iuga, R. Morar, V. Neamtu, A. Samuila, and I.
Suarasan, “Charging of particulates in the corona field of roll-type
electroseparators,” J. Phys. D, Appl. Phys., vol. 27, pp. 1242–1241,
1994.
[15] L. Dascalescu, A. Samuila, D. Rafiroiu, A. Iuga, and R. Morar, “Mul-
tiple-needle corona electrodes for electrostatic processes application,”
IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 35, pp. 543–548, May/June 1999.
[16] D. Rafiroiu, R. Morar, P. Atten, and L. Dascalescu, “Mathematical mod-
eling of the combined corona-electrostatic field of corona-electrostatic
Fig. 10. Current–voltage characteristics of the three electrode arrangements, roll-type separators,” in Conf. Rec. IEEE-IAS Annu. Meeting, vol. 3, St.
for a wire diameter of 0.25 mm. The distance between the wire and the grounded Louis, MO, 1999, pp. 1941–1946.
electrode was h = 25 mm. [17] L. Dascalescu, R. Morar, A. Iuga, A. Samuila, and V. Neamtu, “Elec-
trostatic separation of insulating and conductive particles from granular
mixes,” Particulate Sci. Technol., vol. 16, pp. 25–42, 1998.
Peek’s formula can be employed for the estimation of corona [18] A. Iuga, V. Neamtu, I. Suarasan, M. Morar, and L. Dascalescu, “Optimal
high-voltage energization of corona-electrostatic separators,” IEEE
onset conditions in many of the electrode arrangements com- Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 34, pp. 286–293, Mar./Apr. 1998.
monly encountered in the industrial applications of the various [19] W. Müller, “Numerische Feldberechnung als Instrument zur Entwiklung
electrostatic processes. Corona onset voltage is lower for the und Optimierung elektrischer Geräte,” Arch. Elektrotech., vol. 69, pp.
295–300, 1986.
wires of smaller diameters, which, in turn, are more vulnerable [20] P. Girdinio, P. Molfino, G. G. Molinari, and A. F. Viviani, “Numerical
to mechanical shocks and vibrations. computation of fields in electrostatic devices: Experience and applica-
The CSP and its updated version SCSP, both based on the tions,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 24, pp. 395–401, May/June 1988.
BEM, are suitable for the analysis of the electric field generated [21] M. N. O. Sadiku, Elements of Electromagnetics. New York: Saunders,
1989.
by different electrode systems, at voltages below corona onset. [22] H. Steinbigler, D. Haller, and A. Wolf, “Comparative analysis of
They enable the computation of the electric field strength at the methods for computing 2-D and 3-D electric fields,” IEEE Trans. Elect.
surface of the wire at corona onset. Work is in progress for the Insulation, vol. 26, pp. 529–536, June 1991.
[23] L. Dascalescu, “Boundary element method analysis of the electric field
development of a computer program capable of analyzing the of electrostatic separators,” in Boundary Element Research in Europe, C.
field at voltages beyond corona onset. A. Brebbia, Ed. Southampton, U.K.: Computational Mechanics, 1998,
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[24] P. L. Levin, A. J. Hansen, D. Beatovic, H. Gan, and J. J. H. Petrangelo,
“A unified boundary-element finite-element package,” IEEE Trans. Di-
ACKNOWLEDGMENT elect. Elect. Insulation, vol. 28, pp. 161–167, Apr. 1993.
[25] L. Dascalescu, A. Mizuno, R. Tobazeon, P. Atten, R. Morar, A. Iuga, M.
The authors express their most sincere gratitude to Prof. P. Mihailescu, and A. Samuila, “Charges and forces on conductive particles
L. Levin, from Boston University, to Dr. M. Spasojevic, from in roll-type corona-electrostatic separators,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat.,
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and to Dr. A. Meroth, from the vol. 31, pp. 947–956, Sept./Oct. 1995.
University of Karlsruhe, for fruitful discussions on the use of
CSP and SCSP.

Dan Rafiroiu received the M.S. degree in electrical

REFERENCES engineering in 1986 from the Technical University of
Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and the Ph.D.
[1] O. C. Ralston, Electrostatic Separation of Mixed Granular degree in physics from the University Joseph Fourier
Solids. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier, 1961. of Grenoble, Grenoble, France, and the Ph.D. degree
[2] A. D. Moore, Ed., Elecrostatics and Its Applications. New York: in electrical engineering from the Technical Univer-
Wiley, 1973. sity of Cluj-Napoca in 1999.
[3] J. M. Crowley, Fundamentals of Applied Electrostatics. New York: He was with the Research Institute for Electronics,
Wiley, 1986. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, for several years, before
[4] J. A. Cross, Electrostatics and Its Applications. Bristol, U.K.: Adam joining the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in
Hilger, 1987. 1990 as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of
[5] J. F. Hughes, Electrostatics Powder Spraying. New York: Research Electrical Engineering. He is currently a Lecturer of Electrical Engineering.
Studies Press, 1985. In 1995 and 1997, he recieved, respectively, nine- and four-month Research
[6] J. S. Chang, A. J. Kelly, and J. M. Crowley, Eds., Handbook of Electro- Scholarships at the Laboratoire d’Electrostatique et de Matériaux Diélec-
static Processes. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1995. triques, Grenoble, France. His present scientific interests are in the field of
[7] J. Bohm, Electrostatic Precipitators. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: computational electrostatics and biomedical engineering.
Elsevier, 1982. Dr. Rafiroiu is a member of the Electrostatics Society of Romania.
RAFIROIU et al.: CORONA INCEPTION IN TYPICAL ELECTRODE CONFIGURATIONS 771

Ilie Suarasan received the B.S. degree in elec- Pierre Atten received the Doctor degree in physics
trical engineering, the M.S. degree in electronics from Grenoble University, Grenoble, France, in
engineering, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical 1969.
engineering from the Technical University of In 1963, as an Engineer of the “Ecole Poly-
Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1978, 1987, technique” in Paris, France, he joined the “Centre
and 2000, respectively. National de la Recherche Scientifique” and began
From 1978 to 1988, he was with the Technofrig working in the Laboratory of Electrostatics and Di-
Company, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, as a Design En- electric Materials (LEMD) of Grenoble. His studies
gineer. In 1988, he joined the High-Intensity Elec- concerned space-charge modified electric fields, the
tric Fields Laboratory, Technical University of Cluj- behavior of dielectric liquids subjected to electric
Napoca, as a Research Engineer in charge of devel- fields, and different problems of electrohydrody-
oping high-voltage supplies and electronic control schemes for electrostatic sep- namics with Coulomb force. He has published extensively on various EHD
arators. He is presently interested in the use of electric discharges for the gen- instability problems (linear, nonlinear, transient) electroconvection, transition
eration of ozone, in connection with waste water treatment. to turbulence, etc. Since 1991, he has also been working on electrocapillary
Dr. Suarasan is a member of the Electrostatics Society of Romania. instabilities, electrorheological effect, and electrostatic precipitators.

Lucian Dascalescu (M’93–SM’96) graduated

with first class honors in 1978 from the Faculty
of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of
Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and received
the Dr.Eng. degree in electrotechnical materials from
the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, Bucharest,
Romania, and the Dr.Sci. degree and then the
“Habilitation á Diriger de Recherches” diploma
in physics from the University “Joseph Fourier,”
Grenoble, France.
His professional career began at CUG (Heavy
Equipment Works), Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In 1983, he moved to the Technical
Roman Morar (M’93–SM’99) received the M.Sc. University of Cluj-Napoca as an Assistant Professor, later becoming an
degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering. From October 1991 to June
Institute of Petrograd, Petrograd, Russia, the Ph.D. 1992, he received a Research Fellowship at the Laboratory of Electrostatics
degree from the Polytechnic Institute of Timisoara, and Dielectric Materials (LEMD), Grenoble, France, where he returned in
Timisoara, Romania, and the M.Sc. degree in January 1994, after one year as an Invited Research Associate and Lecturer
economics from the University of Cluj-Napoca, at Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan, and three months
Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1957, 1976, and 1978, as a Visiting Scientist at the Laboratory of Physics and Mechanics of Fluids,
respectively. Poitiers, France. For four years, he taught a course in electromechanical con-
In 1963, after several years in industry, he joined version of energy at the University Institute of Technology, Grenoble, France.
the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Technical In September 1997, he was appointed Professor of Electrical Engineering and
University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Automated Systems and Head of the Laboratory of Advanced Electric and
From 1976 to 1982, he was Vice-Dean, and from 1982 to 1990, he was Dean Electronic Technologies at the University Institute of Technology, Angoulême,
of the Faculty. Until his retirement in 1997, he was also Head of the Division France. Since 1999, he has also been Head of the Department of Management
of Electrotechnics and Electrical Machines. He contributed to the development and Engineering of Production Systems. He is the author of several textbooks
of the High-Intensity Electric Fields Laboratory and continues to take an active in the field of electrical engineering and ionized gases. He is the holder of 14
part in many of its research projects. He visited the University of Erlangen, patents, has authored more than 50 papers, and was invited to lecture on the
with a research fellowship offered by the German Academy of Science, and electrostatics of granular materials at various universities and international
the Beijing Institute of Technology, as a guest of the Academia Sinica (China). conferences in China (1988), Poland (1990), the U.S. (1990 and 1997), Japan
He has coauthored several books and more than 80 papers and is the holder of (1992 and 1993), France (1991 and 1993), U.K. (1998), and Romania (1999).
15 patents. Prof. Dascalescu is a senior member of the IEEE Industry Applications So-
Prof. Morar is Vice-President of the Electrostatics Society of Romania and a ciety and a member of the Electrostatics Society of America, Electrostatics So-
member of the Electrostatics Society of America and the New York Academy ciety of Romania, Société des Electriciens et Electroniciens (SEE), and Club
of Science. Electrotechnique, Electronique, Automatique (EEA) France.