STORAGE SYSTEMS

Storage systems constitute the largest and the most important group of amenities, that make bare spaces worthy of inhabitation. We not only store materials but also tools to work upon the materials. Stored things help us to conduct our life at a rational pace. Storage spaces occupy substantial space and often require very acute management.

Materials that we store include not only physical, static and non static things, but biologically live beings (pets) and nonphysical things like ideas, concepts, feelings, experiences and thoughts. Tools include gadgets to process various types of materials and also utilities that facilitate storage of materials.

Some of the things we store are static or less mobile and can be stored without being 'contained', while things like gases, liquids, and biological beings need to be contained. Nonphysical things are stored in terms of their impressions formed on some physical medium.

At domestic level we store,
1. edibles
2. other provisions
3. clothing
4. raw materials
5. tools.
6. Energy resources.

Edibles are stored mainly because their supply is seasonal or time related. Other provisions are stored for the same reason and also because we may consume only a small part of the commercially available or producible lot at any instant. Clothes are stored because their use is a climate and often occasion related. Raw materials need to be stored to amass a usable size of stock and to season or process them. Tools need to be stored because we use them over and over again not only for the same tasks but also different tasks. Energy resources are localized and often seasonal.

At commercial level we store mainly
1. raw materials or consumables,
2. tools
3. energy resources (fuels, kinetic energies etc.)
4. records.

At industrial or production level in addition we store output products and output effluents. At all levels we also need to store means, mediums and containers for storage, measurements, handling and transportation.

Like all human activities the act of storing is very purposive, so provides an impetus to some form of organization. Stored things are far more organized than a very vast left out universe whose order is unknown and is beyond control.

Things are always stored with a clear concept that these will be retrieved in future. A person who stores things may not be able to relish them, unless he has a way to retrieve them at the right occasion, location and format.

Things are generally stored with perception that these are items of wealth and their value will be greater when retrieved. The increment in value may be due to sheer act of containment (location massing), aging (maturing, ripening), organization or orderliness induced through the act of storing, and art or technique of retrieval. Like all wealth, the value of stored things changes with time, and this change may not add to the wealth.

Different societies endow special importance to certain commodities, as prime things worthy of possession and display. It could be utensils, crockery, clothes, handicrafts, bags, containers, Sanduks, Pataras, gadgets, tools, armaments, trophies, prizes, certificates, photographs, paintings, sculptures, antiques, jewel ry, stuffed animals, or a pet.

Storing is also called archiving. In archives generally documents are stored, retrieved and re stored. These documents are preserved and often restored.

Things need to be stored when we wish to condition their state. During storage controlled modifications are allowed or supported. Stored things are affected by not only the environment (atmosphere) but by gravity, magnetic and other energies.

Things are also stored to isolate them, because an encounter with them is likely to be hazardous or inclement to the well being of people or environment. Things are also stored (dumped) when one does not know what to do with the items, or because economically it is not viable to `store' (organize, rationalize) them. Dumped things have no perceptible value, but there is an expectation that dumped things will degenerate eventually, or a better technique or suitable opportunity of dealing with them may become available in future.

There are many different types of storage units. Within our body, Kidneys, Glands, Levers, Stomach, etc. are examples of storage systems. Petroleum tanks, Reservoirs, Septic tanks, Granaries or silos, Settling ponds, Jails, Auditoriums, Concentration camps, Detention camps, Sheep yards, Balloons are also storage units. Atmosphere is a very vast and almost infinite storage unit of energy, dusts particles, radiation, moisture, gases etc. Solid walls and wool garments are capable of storing heat so function as storage unit. Most things store kinetic energy in proportion of their mass. Fusion energy within particle bonds is also a storage system. Ships, Transport containers, Railway wagons, Submarines, Airplanes are transportable storage systems.

Liquids and gases need vessels to contain them. Since vessels have shape defined by the quality of material and construction technique, their size is inherently limited. Things which are comparatively small in size (grains, chips, boulders) may require some type of containment, if stored at angles steeper then their angle of repose or under vibratory conditions that can displace them. Containment is necessary for mass transportation, bulk-handling, high density for packing, and to reduce the amount of air space within the bulk. Containment is often done in modulated units, to improve transportation, stacking and handling. Pallets are modulated units used for lifting goods through fork lifts. Ship containers, gas cylinders, injection vials, medicinal capsules, bullets, grenade, are some of the examples of modulated storage units. Things that are irregularly sized or shaped, can be stored in heaps, provided there is no chance of a spread out. However things that are uniform in size and shape can be stored in stacks. Stacking and heaping systems of storing, both have size limitations. In stacked and stored things, items placed at the bottom are not only difficult to retrieve but there is an overloading burden on them. Such a burden may cause changes in stored things. In stacked or heaped storage, each of the stored elements interacts differently with the environment.

Shirts or clothes, when overburdened, show unwanted creases. Woolen pullovers and suits when overburdened loose their fluffy character, and look flat or dead. Silk Sarees loose their tenderness, while rayon get an indelible permanent press. Cotton mattresses when overburdened for long become stiff. Over heaped cement bags get a false set. Overburdened soils over a period turn into a rock like structure. A person with overburdened memory tends to forget less important thing. Oxygen when heavily burdened (compressed) turns into a liquid and Carbon dioxide into ice like form.

Even for things stored within their burdening limits the process of retrieval will affect the quality of storage. Things stored in a library book shelf pattern can be retrieved, irrespective of order of storage. But heaped or stacked things can be retrieved as `first stored - removable last'. In grain stores like silos all old grains must be removed before fresh ones are stored or alternatively a bottom extraction must be arranged.

Dry edible items like food grains, and condiments are best stored at low humidity and at slightly lower temperature than average. Wet or moist foods and cooked foods need a temperature lower than one that allows bacterial growth. Most bacteria get sterilized at 70 C (as in pasteurization) but once the temperature is lowered there is a likely hood of recurrence of bacterial growth. However, foods stored below 4 C may retard bacterial growth.

Design of a storage unit depends on:
1. Storing procedures: handling, packing
2. Storage format: heaps, stacks, contained
3. Environmental conditions desired
4. Codification, identification
5. Retrieval procedures