Owing to the serious environmental problems and the price of the traditional energy resources the use of industrial waste heat or renewable energy, as the driving force for vapour absorption cooling systems is continuously increasing. A steady-state model is developed to predict the performance of an absorption refrigeration system using LiBr-water as working pair. Each component of the cycle is modelled based on mass and energy balances. The design point parameters are determined. The refrigeration effect, coefficient of performance (cop) and load factor are analysed for different heat input. Simulation is carried out and the results are compared with actual data and showed good agreement. © Asian Network for Science Information.