Intermittent adsorption refrigeration systems are suitable for producing ice in remote areas. EES and MATLAB computer programs are exploited to analyze the thermodynamic cycle and to model the system under Dhahran climate conditions, respectively. The results show that the system performance in winter is better than in summer under the climate conditions for the city of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. For example, the system produces below 3 kg in the hot days and more than 5 kg of ice per square meter of solar collector in the cold days with solar coefficient of performance (SCOP) that varies between 0.077 and 0.17, respectively. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.