Rigid discharge electrode for electrical precipitators

An electrostatic precipitator comprising a housing having a dirty gas inlet and a clean gas outlet, a plurality of spaced parallel extended surface collecting electrodes, spaced electrode rigidifying baffle elements extending vertically from top to bottom of said collecting electrodes, said baffle elements being further arranged in opposed manner to the baffles of opposed collecting electrodes, means rigidly supporting the collecting electrodes in the gas flow path through said housing, a discharge electrode system in the said housing in precipitating alignment to said collecting electrodes, said discharge electrode system comprising a horizontal top conductive beam rigidly connected to the precipitator high-tension frame, a plurality of rigid electrodes, each said electrode comprising a hollow support member, each said support member having a partially flattened ellipsoidal configuration in transverse cross section, corona members carried by the support member, said corona members projecting substantially along a plane passing through the long axis of each support member, said electrode and support member configuration serve to prevent highly localized high corona current spots on said collecting electrodes, and at least an upper termination member secured in the upper end of the hollow support member, means connecting the upper termination member to the said top conductive beam, a lower discharge electrode support frame underlying the rigid discharge electrodes and substantially transversely co-extensive with said rigid discharge electrodes, means connecting each lower end of the hollow support members of each said rigid discharge electrodes to the lower discharge support frame.