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An Archimedes Screw

New Power Generation At The Settle Hydro

By Mike Singleton - MikeydredPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
7
Watchin' The River Flow

I am currently holidaying in Settle and have places that I enjoy visiting, including walking down to the River Ribble to the weir before the bridge that links Settle to Giggleswick. One of the interesting things that is located there is a water turbine that uses an Archimedes Screw, The basic principle of the Archimedes Screw is to raise water from one level to another ,often seen in irrigation systems and much more efficient than carrying the water in buckets.

I have always been fascinated by the one at Settle Hydro and it is actually an Archimedean screw hydro turbine to give it it’s proper title and is used to generate power.

Today I walked down and the Ribble was very heavy and the waters very fierce. There was a guy there clearing leaves away (it is autumn) so I took some video , that you can see here and said that the river looked really high , and I would be worried if I lived in any of the houses adjoining this place. The guy said the river had actually gone down , so I had not seen it at its worst.

As I turned I actually got a great shot of the Archimedean screw hydro turbine as the water was driving it and I mentioned to him that was the first really good shot that I had got of it. We got talking and he told me his name was Steve, and he was a maintenance guy and had to clear the leaves three times a day as they really screwed with the power generation. The power goes into the local grid but the water needs to be clear to ensure maximum power generation.

Steve asked me if I would like to look into the generation building which I took the opportunity offered. I got a close up of the Archimedean screw hydro turbine and asked if I could film it and he said , go ahead , no problem. I was amazed to see this machine in close up in such an optimal situation.

Steve showed me the power generation monitor and it flatlined until the leaves were cleared and then went stratospheric. It just illustrated how much natural power there is available to us on this planet if we would only let the right scientists and people implement these methods of power generation.

I finally left and we shook hands , Steve locked up the building and left the machine generating the electricity from the huge amount of flowing water. This power does not require digging or burning , it is just there ready to be harnessed.

I walked away but took more video of the river near the weir , being very careful not to drop my phone in, which could have easily happened. I then walked across the bridge to the Giggleswick side, still amazed at how rough and full the river Ribble was. It has been two years since I was last here and the river was high then.

I wandered back along seeing lots of waves and foam hitting the trees and rocks thinking if anyone went in there they would not come out alive. It has been raining but I didn’t think that much although when I was up Castlebergh Crag today I looked to the east and there seemed to be a lot of fields under water. I have produced a twenty minute YouTube video which you can see here. So it is possibly not too surprising that the river Ribble is so full and driving that Archimedean screw hydro turbine incredibly fast.

I must say this has been an absolute revelation for me and I hope it provides a bit of entertainment for you.

The lead in song is naturally Bob Dylan's "Watchin' The River Flow"

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