Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) recently acquired a patent to produce “Aquatic Storage Facilities”.
The Seattle based company is now developing sights underwater after proposing aerial fulfillment facilities. These facilities will comprise of a storage pool with a sonar transducer to emit sound, a conveyor belt as well as computer device which maintains constant communication with the transducer in order to regulate the flow of the packages in the pool.
The company outlined a couple of issues in the patent with the land warehouses including inefficient use of space and distances covered by the staff members or the robots within the warehouse in order to meet customers’ requests.
The aquatic storage facilities as proposed by Amazon, provides a potential solution to those problems as they can be used even in natural water bodies like the Lake Union in Seattle. It also uses a combination of both natural and automation flows to the store and move objects.
How does it work?
The packages are either dropped from the air or placed or put in a liquid container facility or a natural water body. They then float to a certain storage depth as desired which is based on the manipulations from the computer device. For instance, the computer device may charge a package with more air or water volume in order to make it sink to the desired depth. Sometimes the package may make use of the natural water flow as a transport medium to the storage location.
During shipment, sonar transducer emits sounds which trigger a parachute placed in a cartridge which is attached to the package. The parachute propels the package upwards until it’s at the surface from where it is picked by a staff, drone or aircraft.
The design for underwater warehouse is complementary to the one in the air. Both extensively use cartridges which are attached to the packages to enhance safety as well as accurate transportation. It is expected that Amazon may redesign its packaging to accommodate the methods.
The company is working aggressively to speed up the delivery of the facilities as well as ensure more enhanced efficiency within its warehouses. The company recently formed a partnership with Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ:PLUG) a fuel cell maker. It also pioneered in using robots in the warehouses for automated tasks.
