Electrostatic precipitators(EPs) have low pressure drop and high dust collection efficiency and are widely used for industrial dust collectors. The current-voltage characteristics, which are important to maintain high dust collection efficiency, depend on several factor: discharge electrode shape, gas flow property, dust loading etc. In this study, experiments are performed to investigate the current-voltage characteristics of the corona discharge of various electrode geometries and an empirical model is proposed to predict current-voltage characteristics of the corona discharge. The corona onset voltage correction coefficient$(alpha)$ and the geometry correction coefficient$(k_g)$ are used to the conventional equation for wire-plate type discharge electrode. The corona onset voltages are -6.3kV and almost constant when the numbers of discharge pins are varied from 3 to 9. The length of discharge pins has very sensitive effects on the corona onset voltage. They are increased from -6.3 to -7.8kV when the discharge pin length are 8.5 and 4.5mm, respectively. The empirical model shows good agreement with experimental results and can predict the effects of discharge pin length and number.