A flat-plate solid-adsorption refrigeration ice maker has been built for demonstration purposes. The working pair consists of methanol used as the refrigerant and activated carbon as the adsorption medium. The adsorbent bed is constructed of two flat-plate collectors, with a total surface area of 1.5 m(2). Solar radiation can be simulated with quartz lamps and some important parameters such as temperature and pressure of each subsystem can be handled by a computer. The experimental results show that this machine can produce 4-5 kg of ice after receiving 14-16 MJ of radiation energy with a surface area of 0.75 m(2), while producing 7-10 kg of ice after receiving 28-30 MJ of radiation energy with 1.5 m(2). These are the most advanced results for a solar ice maker so far. All these successful achievements will speed up the commercial processing of a solar ice maker. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.