A uniform pressure model is presented to describe the heat and mass transfer in an adsorbent bed for a flat plate solar ice maker. This model accounts for heat and mass transfer in a porous bed in a two-dimensional transient process. An experiment has been conducted to validate this model and the calculated results are in good agreement with experiments. With the help of this model, the transient analysis and performance prediction of an intermittent solar powered solid refrigerator can be presented. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.