The freeze proof solar cooling tube, which can produce cooling capacity with the refrigerant temperature below 0 degrees C using solar light as energy and active carbon-methanol as working pair, was firstly designed and made in this research. This paper focused on mechanical and experimental study on a freeze proof solar powered adsorption cooling tube. The following experimental results could be concluded: at the solar radiation value between 15.3 and 17.1 MJ m(-2), the highest adsorbent bed temperature is below 110 degrees C. The freeze proof solar cooling tube's cooling capacity was about 87-99 kJ, and the coefficient of performance (COP) was more than 0.11 when the evaporation temperature was about -4 degrees C. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.