An adsorption ice maker driven by waste heat from the diesel engine of a fishing boat has been developed at SJTU. It has a cooling capacity of about 15 kg ice per hour when the evaporating temperature is -11 degreesC, the cooling water temperature is 30 degreesC and the heating water temperature is 110 degreesC. The working pair is methanol and compacted active carbon. The difference from a previous experiment is that now the machine is driven by an intermittent heat source. The primary aim of this work is to find the influence of the intermittent heat source on the system. Key parameters are tested under different intermittent durations and intermittent starting times of the heat source in the experiment. The influence of the intermittent heat source on the performance of the adsorber and on the system is discussed. The results show that due to the intermittent heat source, the maximum drop of the SCP reaches 26.6%, but that of the COP is only 6%. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.