CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefits of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0021867, filed on Feb. 25, 2019, and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0086945, filed on Jul. 18, 2019, all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator installed at an entrance of a building, such as a home or a business.

Recently, delivery services for delivering fresh goods to predetermined places are being utilized. In particular, when the goods are fresh food, a delivery vehicle is provided with a refrigerator or a warmer to store and deliver the food so as to prevent the food from spoiling or cooling.

Generally, the food is packed in a packaging material and delivered so as to keep the food cool or warm, depending on the type of food. The packaging material is often composed of environmental pollutants such as polystyrene foam. The social atmosphere recently has placed an emphasis on a reduction of an amount of packaging material used.

When a user is at home at the time of a delivery, the delivery person may deliver the food to the user in a face-to-face manner. However, when the user is not at home or when the delivery time is too early or too late, it is difficult for the delivery person to deliver the food in a face-to-face manner.

Therefore, there is a need to be able to deliver the food even if the delivery person does not face the user, and to prevent the food from spoiling or cooling until the food is finally delivered to the user.

To solve this problem, in recent years, a product has been introduced in which a refrigerator is installed at an entrance (e.g. a front door) of a predetermined place, so that a delivery person can deliver the food into the refrigerator in order to keep the food fresh until a user can receive the food by accessing the refrigerator at a convenient time.

Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2011-0033394 (Mar. 31, 2011) discloses an entrance refrigerator mounted on a front door.

When the temperature of the storage compartment of the entrance refrigerator is lower than an outside temperature, condensation may form on the bottom of the storage compartment.

Outdoor air may enter into the storage compartment when an outdoor side door of the entrance refrigerator is opened, and indoor air may enter into the storage compartment when an indoor side door of the entrance refrigerator is opened.

In particular, in summer, the temperature and humidity of indoor air and outdoor air are higher than the temperature and humidity inside the storage compartment. Therefore, in the process of cooling indoor air or outdoor air, having entered into the storage compartment, to a storage compartment temperature, water contained in the indoor air or the outdoor air may condense on the floor, wall, or ceiling of the storage compartment.

Due to gravity, condensation formed on the ceiling of the storage compartment may fall to the bottom of the storage compartment, and condensation formed on the wall of the storage compartment or the surface of stored goods may flow down to the bottom of the storage compartment.

In addition, when goods stored in the storage compartment are vegetables, water flowing down from the stored goods themselves may also flow to the bottom of the storage compartment.

If water collected on the bottom of the storage compartment is not removed quickly, bacteria a mold may grow on the bottom of the storage compartment, deteriorating the hygiene of the stored goods.

In addition, when the storage compartment is switched to a freezing storage mode below a freezing temperature while water is present at the bottom of the storage compartment, ice may be formed on the bottom or the walls of the storage compartment. In addition, since the size of the ice increases with time, the space of the storage compartment is narrowed.

Therefore, there is a need for a method for quickly discharging water collected on the bottom of the storage compartment to the outside of the storage compartment.

In addition, in the case of the entrance refrigerator provided with a cold air supply device including a thermoelectric module for cooling the storage compartment, there is a need for a method for quickly discharging condensation formed on the surface of a cold sink of the thermoelectric module to the outside of the entrance refrigerator.

Specifically, when the storage compartment is maintained at a temperature lower than the outside temperature, condensation may occur on the surface of the cold sink attached to the heat absorbing surface of the thermoelectric element. In order to eliminate the condensation, it is necessary to perform a defrosting operation of evaporating the condensation. The defrosting operation may be performed, for example, by applying a reverse voltage to the thermoelectric element.

As a result, while the defrosting operation is performed, heat generated in the cold sink penetrates into the storage compartment, causing a problem of increasing the storage compartment temperature.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure has been proposed as a solution to the above-described problem.

That is, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an entrance refrigerator capable of quickly removing water accumulated on a bottom of a storage compartment.

In addition, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an entrance refrigerator capable of quickly removing condensation from a surface of a cold sink of a thermoelectric module.

In order to achieve the above objects, an entrance refrigerator according to one embodiment may include a cabinet in which a storage compartment is formed, the bottom of the storage compartment may include a main floor and a sub floor lower than the main floor, and the main floor may be formed to be inclined (slanted) to be lowered toward the sub floor, such that condensation falling on the main floor of the storage compartment flows toward the sub floor and is collected on the sub floor.

A drain hole may be formed in the sub floor. Condensation collected on the sub floor may be discharged to the outside of the entrance refrigerator through the drain hole.

A mount plate may be seated on the sub floor, and a drain hole may be formed at a point of the mount plate corresponding to the drain hole of the sub floor.

A cold air supply device of the entrance refrigerator may include a thermoelectric module. Condensation formed on the upper surface of the cold sink of the thermoelectric module may flow along the mount plate and may be discharged to the outside of the entrance refrigerator through the drain hole of the mount plate.

In addition, a mount plate may be seated on the sub floor. A drain hole may be formed at a portion of the mount plate corresponding to a location of the drain hole of the sub floor.

A drain port communicating with the drain hole may extend from the bottom surface of the cabinet defining the storage compartment of the entrance refrigerator.

A drain box may be mounted on a bottom surface of the cabinet to allow water discharged from the drain port to be collected in the drain box.

A housing may be mounted on the bottom surface of the cabinet, and the drain box may be detachably mounted on the cabinet, such that the drain box may be withdrawn to the outside of the housing.

In addition, the housing may be provided with an opening/closing port that allows the drain box to be withdrawn, and a protective cover may be mounted on the opening/closing port.

The entrance refrigerator configured as described above according to the embodiment has the following effects.

The bottom of the storage compartment may be designed to be slanted to one side, and the drain hole may be formed at the point where the water falling on the bottom of the storage compartment is collected, thereby rapidly discharging the water collected on the bottom of the storage compartment to the outside of the storage compartment through the drain hole.

In addition, since the drain box is mounted below the cabinet and directly below the drain hole, water discharged through the drain hole may be collected in the drain box. As a result, it is possible to prevent the water discharged through the drain hole from leaking to the outside of the entrance refrigerator and falling to the floor of the entrance.

In addition, the drain box may be detachably coupled to the bottom surface of the cabinet, or the drain box may be pulled out of the housing accommodating the drain box. Therefore, there is an advantage in that the operation of discarding the water filled in the drain box can be easily performed.

In addition, when the thermoelectric module of the cold air supply device is mounted on the bottom of the cabinet, the cold sink is mounted to be slanted obliquely toward the drain hole, such that condensed water generated on the surface of the cold sink flows toward the drain hole along the surface of the cold sink. Therefore, the growth of frost or ice on the surface of the cold sink may be prevented.

In addition, by designing the cold sink such that the upper surface of the cold sink is slanted, the water generated on the surface of the cold sink can flow quickly toward the drain hole even if the thermoelectric module is coupled to the cabinet in a horizontal state. Therefore, the growth of frost or ice on the surface of the cold sink may be prevented.

The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

