Most previous studies on adsorption chillers were conducted using the same adsorption and desorption times. Instead, this study analyzed various adsorption/desorption time allocations, and systematically examined the effect of cycle time allocation on system performance. The results provide physical insights for 3-bed adsorption chillers. The effect of hot water temperature and cycle time on the optimum adsorption/desorption time ratio was also examined. Setting the proper adsorption and desorption times was much more important for smaller cycle times. The highest degradation in COP (coefficient of performance) found was 36% at 300 s of cycle time, compared with the conventional 1:1 ratio. When the temperature of the heat source is low, the ratio of adsorption/desorption time was not significantly affected, however, for higher performance at high temperature, a longer adsorption time than desorption time was required.