Deceptively tiny is the little dynamo that powers the potentially far-reaching Plasmacluster Ion technology. Our Sharp air purifier review will now highlight the enhanced high concentration Plasmacluster Ion generator. At only 57mm by 28.5mm by 15.5mm, it is small in relation to the air purifier but its role of producing the reactive agents is paramount.
Overview of Plasmacluster Ion Technology
Plasma is generated when negative and positive voltages are directed at the discharge electrodes in the Plasmacluster Ion generator. The fourth state of matter, plasma now ranks with the three more well-known states of gas, liquid, solid. A partly ionized gas-like state, it contains free electrons that are not bound to a molecule or atom. Water molecules existing naturally in the plasma are broken down into negative oxygen ions and positive hydrogen ions. Plasmacluster Ions, stable and distinguishable, are created when water molecules in the room air surround the oxygen ions and hydrogen ions in clusters. Plasmacluster Ions are instantaneously transformed into the highly reactive and unstable hydroxyl radical upon coming into contact with pathogens. Such a mercurial make-up causes hydroxyl radicals to quickly interact with hydrogen atoms on the surface mebranes of pathogens. Incredibly, the product is a deactivated pathogen and a harmless by-product, water. Simple yet effective! But is it real or imaginary?
Plasmacluster Ion – Fact or Fiction?
A serious Sharp air purifier review cannot avoid asking the inevitable – are Plasmacluster Ions science fiction or fact? As with many other products emerging from the field of nanotechnology, Plasmacluster Ions are invisible to the naked eye. Compounding the issue, the individuals who use air purifiers have no means to validate the claims. Obvious alternative authentication means would be to rely on tests results of Plasmacluster Ion experiments. There are 2 ways to do this, in the real world or efficiency testing or in the laboratory or efficacy testing.
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. In association with leading academic institutions, Sharp puts its claims for Plasmacluster Ions to the test by scientists. Scientific data generated from such collaborative efforts becomes the foundation of new products from Sharp. Sharp has fine-tuned the definition of effectiveness into efficacy and efficiency. 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 – Authentication at Cellular Level
Seeking further for the purpose of this Sharp air purifier review, we noted that Sharp is going all out in the industry by leading in efficacy and efficiency testing. 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. Armed with an electron microscope, leading cellular engineering authority Professor Artmann confirmed that Plasmacluster Ions led to the destruction of more than 60 protein types on the cell membranes of viruses and bacteria, thereby inactivating them.
A test result with important implications was that the core DNA of pathogens were unaffected by Plasmacluster Ions as these do not perforate the cell membrane. Unlike other competing air purifiers which rely on DNA destruction to be effective, an advantage is claimed here by Plasmacluster Ions technology. 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 condenses in one place the efficacy tests on pathogens conducted by Sharp. The efficacy of Plasmacluster Ions has been established through tests held from September 2000 to July 2009 which showed that 28 types of virulent microorganisms were totally destroyed. Quite impressively, the list of 28 includes potentially deadly viruses like the SARS virus, the H5N1 bird flu virus, the H1N1 virus like the one that caused swine flu in 2009 and bacterium like the pernicious MRSA that infects hospitalized patients.
The coxsackie virus which causes the common cold and the polio virus are also inactivated by Plasmacluster Ions. Also annihilated are candida, pseudomonas, serrata bacterium, sarcina, escherichia coli, bacillus subtilis, micrococcus, enterococcus, white staphylococcus and staphylococcus. A whole range of fungi (alternaria, aspergillus, cladosporium, mucor, penicillium, stachybotrys) are also effectively destroyed together with pollen, mites and other allergens.
The following organizations worked with Sharp:
- Harvard School of Public Health, USA
- Retroscreen Virology, Ltd,London, UK
- Asthma Society of Canada
- University of Lübeck, Germany
- CT&T, Aachen University of Applied Science, Germany
- Seoul University, Korea
- Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China
- Ishikawa Health Service Association, Japan
- Kitasato Research Center of Environmental Sciences, Japan
- Kitasato Institute, Medical Center Hospital, Japan
- Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University, Japan
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 wrap up our Sharp air purifier review concerning efficacy testing, we emphasize the OECD GLP (Good Laboratory Practices) status of the testing organizations as this accords dependability to the test results. Renewable on a 3-year basis, GLP status is internationally recognized. Absolutely valuable yet critics of air purification technologies and academic marketing choose to overlook this factor completely. Another conveniently overlooked factor is the fact that the data from a GLP laboratory can be easily the subject of a scientific peer review. The venerated scientific peer review, we know, is the last missing link in the world of Sharp's Plasmacluster Ion technology and for that matter, all other air purification technologies!
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