No abstract

We discuss production of lengths of up to 27 m of YBCO Roebel cable. Results for 5/2 (5 strands, 2 mm width), 9/2 and 15/5 cables produced from standard 12 mm commercial YBCO wire are presented. We discuss specifications for the input wire and suggest using a statistical correlation function, using data from magnetic field scanning, that is shown to produce high performance strands. We discuss advances in manufacturing techniques including cable insulation processes. Transport and magnetic AC loss data are presented for 5/2 cable which demonstrates the effectiveness of decreased strand width and the transposition of strands. Both losses are predominantly hysteretic in nature. Finally, the cable DC transport is presented and we discuss the possibilities for high current cables in high field applications.

Transport AC loss in a short length of 9/2 YBCO Roebel cable (nine 2 mm wide strands) is measured. The AC loss data are compared with those in a 5/2 YBCO Roebel cable (five 2 mm wide strands) as well as that in a single strand. All the strands composing the cables and the single strand are insulated and cut from the same stock material. The validity of the measurement method was reconfirmed by results at a range of frequencies. At a wide range of I t /I c , the normalized AC losses in the Roebel cable were around 6.2-6.7 times of those in the single strand. This is less than the nine times predicted for a tight bundle of nine conductors. The normalized transport AC losses in the 5/2 Roebel cable are much smaller than those in the 9/2 Roebel. This should be due to larger superposition of magnetic field in the 9/2 Roebel. The I c of the 9/2 and 5/2 Roebel cables is determined by serial connection of the strands. This eliminates the effect where differing resistances in the current terminations cause uneven current sharing between strands when the strands are connected in parallel.

The effect of disease in two cultivars of barley, sown at different times in two seasons, on the relative importance of stored carbohydrate reserves and current photosynthesis for grain filling was assessed. Three methods of measuring stem reserve contributions to grain filling are reviewed and compared. Disease reduced stem dry weight and the amount of stored carbohydrate in most situations. In contrast, the total amount of stored carbohydrates used for grain filling was often increased by disease. The magnitude of these effects varied with the method used for estimation, and was also different in the crops sown at different times and in different seasons. The estimates of stem reserve contributions to grain filling ranged up to a maximum of 50% in some cases. At least 10 t/ha of reserve material was retranslocated in the healthy 1984 crop studied using 14C pulse feeding, and up to 0.3 t/ha more was utilized in a diseased crop. The effect of disease on the storage and utilization of stem reserves depended on the time of epidemic development, its duration, and the yield potential of the crop. This suggests that crops could be characterized as those which are very sensitive to disease during grain filling, with low stem reserves or high yield potential, and those with lower sensitivity, with more stem reserves or lower yield potential. Such interacting factors could be incorporated in future plant and yield‐loss mechanistic models.

The effect of disease on growth and yield of two barley cultivars sown at different times and in different years was investigated in New Zealand. The data were used to develop yield‐loss models based on both disease severity (measured as green leaf area) and yield target (estimated by duration of crop growth). Disease influenced yield differently in Triumph and Sonya barley (spring and winter types, respectively), and yield components were affected to different degrees. Empirical yield‐loss models for individual cultivars, sowing dates and seasons had different slope values, and the best models were based on measurements of disease at different growth stages. Combined models were less significant and explained less variation in yield than the individual models. Models which included the duration of crop growth as an estimate of yield target improved the fit to the data. Empirical models were specific to cultivar, sowing date and season, suggesting that they were not applicable in the varying conditions tested. The inclusion of estimated yield target improved the general applicability of models, and provided a method of using models in crops sown at different times and in different seasons, without measuring yield target directly.