The concept of solar cooling is appealing because the cooling load is in phase with the intensity of solar energy. Many system arrangements or cycles are employed to achieve solar cooling, such as Absorption, desiccant or Rankine-vapour compression systems. The technical feasibility of driving an absorption-cooling unit by a low-temperature heat source (such as solar energy using a simple flat-plate collector) for air-conditioning applications is investigated in this work. This study aims to design and construct a prototype for an intermittent absorption refrigeration system and to examine its implementation. The operating characteristics of the considered unit are extensively investigated. In order to accomplish this strategy, the prototype was integrated in a test rig designed for this purpose and equipped with the necessary measuring instruments to determine the required operating criteria of the unit. The energy added or extracted to or from the different unit components is calculated and the system performance is analysed. The C.O.P of the unit is found to be 19% which is 2% lower than the designed value, which could be regarded as an encouraging result for more studies in this field. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.