Corona discharge glow visible from ionic hairdryer?

Thread Starter

walt-c

Joined Jul 19, 2018
2
Hello, kind of an odd question I know but when running an ionic hairdryer in cool blow mode so the heating elements are not red hot, I can see a faint fluctuating bluish glow quite deep within the enclosure of the device - is this the visible corona discharge from the ioniser elements? - it looks rather different from ordinary electrical sparking and the device is working normally and passes a Class II portable appliance test no problems.

Thank you for any information!
 
Pretty new concept to me. As I was looking into it, I found this website which says:

Ionic hair dryers work by the corona effect. A voltage is applied to an ion emitter, typically made up of tiny stainless steel pins, to create a strong electric field very near their points. This accelerates the energy level of the free electrons high enough so that collisions with air molecules will cause them to ionize.

A negative voltage applied to the points creates negative ions and a positive voltage produces positive ions (cations). The majority of hair dryers on the market today emit negative ions (anions).
 
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