Solar adsorption ice makers are devices which could prove a great help in sustaining the cold chain in third world countries. The use of such devices could be extended also in supporting humanitarian aid actions for vaccines storage. However, further development and optimization of the system design are still required. In this paper a new, versatile, solar driven ice maker operating with the activated carbon/methanol adsorption pair has been developed and tested. The field tests carried out on February and March 2013, showed that the prototype is able to produce up to 5 kg of ice, with a solar Coefficient Of Performance (COPs) of about 0.08, and to preserve it for whole next day. The overall dimensions of the realized prototype are 1.7 x 1.5 x 0.95 m. Solar radiation is collected by a solar collector with an exposed area of 1.2 m(2). (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.