Nowadays, adsorption chillers have been receiving considerable attention, as they are energy saving and environmentally benign systems. A fin tube type heat exchanger in which adsorption/desorption takes place is required with more compact size. The adsorption chiller is expected to have high energy efficiency in utilizing the waste heat exhausted from a process. The objectives of this paper are to scrutinize the effect of design parameters on the adsorption performance, especially the fin pitch of the fin tube, and to develop an optimal design fin tube heat exchanger in a silica gel/water adsorption chiller. From the numerical results, the fin pitch of 2.5 mm shows the highest adsorption rate, compared to other fin pitches, such as 5 mm, 7.5 mm and 10mm. Also, the adsorption rate is affected by the cooling water and hot water temperature.