At the Institut fuer Thermodynamik und Waermetechnik (ITW) a solar cooling machine has been built for demonstration purposes. The main part of the device is an absorber/desorber unit which is mounted inside a concentrating solar collector. The working pair consists of NH3 used as the refrigerant and SrCl2 used as the absorbing medium. Performance of the solar refrigeration unit was measured in a held test. The working principle of a periodically working, dry absorption cooling machine will be explained using the demonstration machine as an example. Results obtained from a field test performed in 1995 are presented and discussed. Further, a simulation program for the numerical simulation of a solar-powered dry absorption cooling machine has been developed and tested.