The negative direct current corona discharge experiment under the needle-plate electrode is conducted, and the typical Trichel pulse waveform is obtained. Furthermore, to analyze the microscopic process of corona discharge, a plasma-fluid discharge simulation model, including air chemical reactions, is established, and a Trichel pulse waveform is obtained, which is consistent with the experimentally obtained waveform. Thus, the chemical reaction that plays a dominant role in the generation and disappearance of charged particles as well as the spatiotemporal distribution and quantitative variation of charged particles during the discharge process are clarified. On this basis, the variation of the microscopic and macroscopic parameters in the discharge process under different air pressure and temperature conditions is studied. The results show that microscopic parameters, such as charge density and electric field intensity, are negatively associated with air pressure and positively associated with temperature, while macroscopic parameters, such as Trichel pulse average current, average peak current, and discharge frequency, are positively associated with the microscopic parameters.

Air gap defects in solid insulation of power equipment can cause partial discharge. Temperature, as an important characterization of partial discharge, can be used as a criterion for the deterioration degree of air gap defects to some extent. In this paper, the temperature characterization of air gap discharge is studied. A plasma-kinetics-based dielectric barrier discharge model is constructed. The calculation method of air gap discharge heat source under power frequency voltage is presented. Moreover, the influence of voltage amplitude and gap thickness on temperature is studied. Obtained results indicate that under the power frequency voltage, Joule (Ohmic) heat contributes 90% to the heat source, and O4+ and O2+ and electron e are the main contributors to Joule (Ohmic) heat. O4+ is also the dominant ion in the mixed gas. As the discharge progressed, O4+ almost all clustered near the instantaneous cathode. The O2+ density generally depends on the electron density, but compared with the electron, the spatial distribution of O2+ density is slightly shifted to the instantaneous cathode. The discharge heat source is positively correlated with the air gap thickness and the voltage amplitude. With the increase in air gap thickness, the rising rate of heat sources will also increase. However, when the voltage is 10 kV, the heat source increases first and then decreases with the increase in the air gap thickness. The discharge does not occur when the air gap thickness reaches above 4 mm. This study provides theoretical support for identifying the deterioration degree of air gap defects from the view of temperature.