Ironically, for something potentially massive in reach, Plasmacluster Ion technology is powered by a tiny dynamo. Our Sharp air purifier review zeroes in on the enriched high concentration Plasmacluster Ion generator. Removing this tiny gadget, which measures only 57mm by 28.5mm by 15.5mm, would turn an air purifier into nothing but an electricity guzzler.
Plasmacluster Ion Technology Overview
Positive and negative voltages are applied to discharge electrodes inside the Plasmacluster Ion generator to produce plasma. Increasingly, plasma is accepted as the 4th state of matter, after the commonly known liquid, gas, solid. Existing in a partially ionized gaseous form, plasma is a mixture of atoms, molecules and free electrons that are not bound to either. The disintegration of naturally occurring water molecules in the plasma lead to the formation of negative oxygen ions and positive hydrogen ions. Other water molecules in the air cluster around the hydrogen ions and oxygen ions forming the distinctive and stable Plasmacluster Ions. Ultra reactive and extremely unstable hydroxyl radicals are created as soon as Plasmacluster Ions come into contact with any pathogens. Such a mercurial make-up causes hydroxyl radicals to quickly interact with hydrogen atoms on the surface mebranes of pathogens. And the result; inactivated pathogens and a harmless by-product, water. What an ideal solution! But is it fact or fiction?
Plasmacluster Ion – Fact or Fiction?
An honest Sharp air purifier review has to resolve the most basic doubt – are Plasmacluster Ions 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.
Sharp, as an established corporation with a successful track record 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. Scientific data produced by academia becomes the basis for introducing new products by Sharp. Two separate approaches to effectiveness, efficacy and efficiency, is being pursued by Sharp. Efficacy testing has been the focus from the year 2000 to July 2009. Efficiency testing in conjunction with corporate end users of Plasmacluster Ion technology is the current focus.
Plasmacluster Ion – Certification at Molecular Levels
Seeking further for the purpose of this Sharp air purifier review, it became clear to us that Sharp firmly believes that the science in efficacy and efficiency testing will give them the industry lead. On 17 November 2004, Sharp announced the results of studies by Professor Gerhard Artmann of the Department of Cell Biophysics and Bioengineering, University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Through the use of an electron microscope, Professor Artmann (a cellular engineering expert) verified that Plasmacluster Ions damaged more than 60 proteins on the surface cell membranes of pathogens leading to inactivation of both viruses and bacteria.
That the pathogenic cell DNA is unaffected by Plasmacluster Ions which do not puncture the cell membrane is of great importance. That Plasmacluster Ions technology destroys pathogens without the need to impact their DNA is claimed as an advantage over other air purification technologies that work only with DNA annihilation. The danger to users of other air purification technologies being exposed to cancer from DNA damage was implied.
Plasmacluster Ion – Efficacy Testing
This current Sharp air purifier review puts on one page the efficacy tests on various pathogens performed by organizations engaged by Sharp. Efficacy tests conducted from September 2000 to July 2009 have attested to the effectiveness of Plasmacluster Ions in the inactivation of 28 types of detrimental airborne microorganisms. 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 other viruses inactivated by Plasmacluster Ions are the polio virus, the coxsackie virus that afflicts one with the common cold and the feline coronavirus which infects cats. Also annihilated are candida, pseudomonas, serrata bacterium, sarcina, escherichia coli, bacillus subtilis, micrococcus, enterococcus, white staphylococcus and staphylococcus. Also effectively eliminated are a whole array of fungi (stachybotrys, penicillium, mucor, cladosporium, aspergillus, alternaria), mite, pollen and other allergens.
The following organizations conducted tests on Plasmacluster Ion technology:
- 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).
To summarize our Sharp air purifier review on 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. GLP status is renewable on a 3-year basis. An important factor, yet this fact is often given no weight by critics of academic marketing and air purification technologies. Curiously, the fact that test data generated by a GLP laboratory can be readily peer reviewed by fellow scientists is also disregarded. The all-important scientific peer review, as we know, is the key missing piece in the puzzle of air purification technologies, including Plasmacluster Ion technology!
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