Tiny in size but not in might aptly describes the little dynamo at the centre of Plasmacluster Ion technology. Our Sharp air purifier review will now highlight the enhanced high concentration Plasmacluster Ion generator. Whilst it measures only 57mm by 28.5mm by 15.5mm, this generator is responsible for the reactive agents, without which the air purifier is worthless.
Overview of Plasmacluster Ion Technology
Positive and negative voltages are applied to discharge electrodes inside the Plasmacluster Ion generator to produce plasma. After gas, liquid, solid, the three commonly known states of matter, there is a fourth, plasma. Existing in a partially ionized gaseous form, plasma is a mixture of atoms, molecules and free electrons that are not bound to either. The plasma contains natural water molecules which are disintegrated into positive hydrogen ions and negative oxygen ions. Separately, water molecules in the air cluster around the oxygen and hydrogen ions, resulting in the distinctively stable Plasmacluster Ions being created. Any contact by Plasmacluster Ions with pathogens leads to the instantaneous formation of the highly unstable and reactive hydroxyl radical. These characteristics cause the hydroxyl radical to bond readily with hydrogen atoms on pathogen surface membranes. And the result; inactivated pathogens and a harmless by-product, water. An ideal solution! But is it for real?
Plasmacluster Ion – Scientific Fact or Fiction?
An honest Sharp air purifier review has to deal with a basic issue – are Plasmacluster Ions science fiction or scientific fact? In common with many other nanotechnology products, Plasmacluster Ions are invisible to the human eye. Complicating the problem for individuals who use air purifiers is the lack of means to authenticate the claims. There is really no choice but to depend on reported results of experiments with Plasmacluster Ions. Efficiency tests (in real-life locations) and efficacy tests (in laboratory conditions) are the 2 usual testing methods.
An established corporate player with a long track record of successes, Sharp has anticipated these concerns. In this regard, Sharp has developed the art of academic marketing. Based upon cooperation between Sharp and well-known academic institutions, scientific experiments are conducted to verify the claims in relation to Plasmacluster Ion technology. The scientific data that is produced forms the basis for new Sharp products. Two separate approaches to effectiveness, efficacy and efficiency, is being pursued by Sharp. The years between 2000 and July 2009 has seen Sharp focusing on efficacy testing. Attention is now focused on efficiency testing, performed with the cooperation of Plasmacluster Ion technology end users.
Plasmacluster Ion – Verification at Atomic Levels
Delving deep for this Sharp air purifier review, we believe that it is Sharp’s strategy to focus on efficacy and efficiency testing to become the leader. Sharp announced on 17 November 2004 the scientific findings of Professor Gerhard Artmann of the Department of Cell Biophysics and Bioengineering, University of Applied Sciences, Germany. A leading authority in the field of cellular engineering, Professor Artmann through the use of an electron microscope confirmed that Plasmacluster Ions damaged more than 60 protein types on the cell membrane of pathogens leading to inactivation of the cells (both bacteria and viruses were tested).
That the pathogenic cell DNA is unaffected by Plasmacluster Ions which do not puncture the cell membrane is of great importance. This is highlighted as a clear advantage over any air purification technology that relies on DNA destruction to inactivate pathogens. The flipside of this claim is that possible interference with DNA may have unintended cancer implications to users of other technologies.
Plasmacluster Ion – Efficacy Tests
This current Sharp air purifier review spotlights the efficacy tests on pathogens conducted by various organizations on behalf of Sharp. From September 2000 to July 2009, eff icacy tests have proven that Plasmacluster Ions destroy 28 different kinds of harmful airborne pathogens. The most significant of pathogens are the deadly SARS virus, the virulent H5N1 avian flu virus, an earlier variant of the H1N1 virus which re-surfaced in Mexico in 2009 and MRSA, the notorious bacterium responsible for difficult-to-treat infections in hospital patients.
Among others, viruses annihilated by Plasmacluster Ions also include the polio virus and the coxsackie virus which is blamed for the common cold. Also inactivated are staphylococcus, white staphylococcus, enterococcus, micrococcus, escherichia coli, serrata bacterium, candida, sarcina, pseudomonas and bacillus subtilis. A whole range of fungi (alternaria, aspergillus, cladosporium, mucor, penicillium, stachybotrys) are also effectively destroyed together with pollen, mites and other allergens.
The organizations, some of which conducted multiple tests, were:
- Ishikawa Health Service Association, Japan
- Kitasato Institute, Medical Center Hospital, Japan
- Kitasato Research Center of Environmental Sciences, Japan
- Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University, Japan
- Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China
- Seoul University, Korea
- Asthma Society of Canada
- Harvard School of Public Health, USA
- CT&T, Aachen University of Applied Science, Germany
- University of Lübeck, Germany
- Retroscreen Virology, Ltd., London, UK
The last reported efficacy test was reported on 27 July 2009 involving the Osaka City University Medical School validating the inhibitory power of Plasmacluster Ions on allergic reactions caused by mite allergens or mite dust (mite feces and dead mites).
In summarizing our Sharp air purifier review with regard to efficacy testing, we place great importance on the OECD GLP (Good Laboratory Practices) status of the testing organizations as the test results attain international recognition. Renewable on a 3-year basis, GLP status is internationally recognized. A critical piece of information yet it is often disregarded by the critics of air purification technologies and academic marketing. Another important fact that is overlooked is that the results produced by a GLP laboratory can be expected to withstand the scrutiny of a scientific peer review. The scientific peer review, as we are well aware, is the final turn in the maze of air purification technologies, including Sharp’s Plasmacluster Ion technology!
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