Characteristics of positive streamer in air: Effects of low temperature

In this paper, the effect of temperature from 173 to 293 K on atmospheric positive streamer was investigated. A 3-electrode arrangement with an air gap of 50 mm was built to generate the streamer and three photomultipliers and an intensified CCD camera were used to measure and record the development of streamers. Experimental results showed that the streamer stability propagation fields increased by 84% when the temperature dropped from 293 to 173 K. The streamer stability propagation field was approximately proportional to air density. Streamer velocity and light intensity reduced with an increase of temperature. Even under the same E/n, streamer light intensity and velocity still decreased as the temperature dropped.