This paper is based on findings resulting from ASHRAE Research Project RP-1462.

Enhancement of heat and mass transfer in sorption fluidscould improve the overall performance of absorption chillers.Active mechanisms are proposed as a potential effective meansto achieve this goal. A testing facility is needed to evaluate theimpact on the performance of the chiller after adding an activemechanism. The challenges of this project include the fulfillmentof mechanism motion to drive extra heat and mass transferin an absorber, the measurement of related variables, andthe stability and repeatability of findings. These challengescome from the fact that absorption chillers are closed-loopsystems with large heat exchangers, have low inside pressures,and can sustain only small pressure drops along the refrigerantloop. Measures are needed to prevent the impact of vibrationon untargeted components in the system. In this paper, weintroduce the details of the lab construction methodology,including the vibration table, the auxiliary water loop system,and the measuring instruments. Then, we present severalexamples to show the operation and testing procedure andstability of the test system. Last, the experiment plan matrix andanalysis methodology are presented, which will be applied inthe next-phase experiment. The fulfillment of active mechanismand test methodology with a closed absorption chiller forperformance analysis can be references in similar thermalapplications.