Abstract: In order to explore the dynamic performance of the absorption chiller, the dynamic model of a single-effect absorption chiller and its control system were developed. The heat and mass transfer model based on the Nusselt theory was applied in the absorber model, and the quasi-distributed parameters model was used by the solution heat exchanger model, and all of these increased the accuracy of the model. The effects of the inlet temperature of cooling water, chilled water, and the thermal mass of the main components on the dynamic performance of the absorption chiller were explored, and effects of the parameters of the PID controller on the control performance were studied. The results indicate that the dynamic model accurately reflects the dynamic performance of the chiller; decreasing the inlet temperature of cooling water is good for increasing COP and cooling capacity, but this also leads to greater risk of crystallization; decreasing the inlet temperature of chilled water reduces COP and cooling capacity, and although the crystallization temperature increases, the crystallization is not easy to happen. The thermal mass of the generator plays the leading role in the response lag of the chiller. The increase of K or τ D within certain limits leads to the decreases of the tuning time. The variation of τ I within certain limits has little effect on the tuning time and the overshoot.