Air handling unit with a canopy thereover for use with a data center and method of using the same

An air conditioning system for a building requiring a high volume of cooled air, the building having a ground level floor and including an exterior wall that provides a harrier against the external environment and includes a heated air opening disposed adjacent to a return air opening, the system comprising:

• a warm exhaust outlet duct formed through the heated air opening;
• a cool air inlet duct formed through the return air opening;
• an air conditioning apparatus connected to and that receives heated air from the warm exhaust outlet duct, connected to and emits cooled air into the cool air inlet duct, and connected to and emits vented air into the external environment through an exhaust opening, the air conditioning apparatus disposed in the external environment, external to the exterior wall, and mounted adjacent the exterior wall on a ground level support structure, the air conditioning apparatus further including:
• a heat exchange unit containing an exhaust fan disposed at a top surface of the heat exchange unit that emits heat from the heated air as the vented air upwardly, thereby allowing return air to pass through a return opening that contains a return damper disposed therein;
• an exhaust canopy that covers the exhaust fan and provides an opening through which the vented air will base pass to the external environment, the exhaust canopy further including a plurality of exhaust louvers, the plurality of exhaust louvers being controlled to (1) open or close to minimize noise from being passed into the external environment;
• and 2) open or close to reduce precipitation from falling onto the exhaust fan;
• a filter chamber, the filter chamber including an air intake area coupled to the heat exchange unit and an air filter, the filter chamber being configurable to receive the return air based upon a return air damper position, the filter chamber providing filtered air;
• a condenser unit coupled to the filter chamber that has an air cooling area over which the filtered air passes to create the cooled air, the condenser unit including:
• a direct cooling coil filled with a gas over which the filtered air passes, the gas being circulated through a condenser disposed within a walled area of the air conditioning apparatus;
• a plurality of condenser fans coupled to the direct cooling coil and disposed on a condenser unit top surface that emit heat from the direct cooling coil into the external environment in an upward direction, thereby allowing gas within the direct cooling coil to cool;
• a condenser canopy that covers the plurality of condenser fans and provides an opening through which the heat from the direct cooling coil will pass to the external environment, the condenser canopy further including a plurality of condenser louvers, the plurality of condenser louvers being controlled to (1) open or close to minimize noise from being passed into the external environment;
• and 2) open or close to reduce precipitation from falling onto the plurality of condenser fans;
• a fan operable to push the filtered air through the air cooling area and toward the cool air inlet duct;
• an outlet damper operable to control an amount of the cooled air delivered from the air cooling area to the cool air inlet duct;
• and
• a control system, the control system operable to automatically control each of the plurality of louvers in dependence on a predetermined noise profile and precipitation signals from a precipitation sensor.