At the heart of Plasmacluster Ion technology is a tiny dynamo. Our Sharp air purifier review will now highlight the enhanced high concentration Plasmacluster Ion generator. At only 57mm by 28.5mm by 15.5mm, its size is dwarfed by its importance of producing the essential reactive agents without which the air purifier is completely useless.
Overview of Plasmacluster Ion Technology
Plasma is generated when negative and positive voltages are directed at the discharge electrodes in the Plasmacluster Ion generator. After gas, liquid, solid, the three commonly known states of matter, there is a fourth, plasma. Comprising electrons that roam freely without bondage to any molecule or atom, plasma exists in a partly ionized gaseous condition. Disintegration of water molecules that permeate plasma lead to the creation of negative ions (oxygen) and positive ions (hydrogen). Other water molecules in the air cluster around the hydrogen ions and oxygen ions forming the distinctive and stable Plasmacluster Ions. Plasmacluster Ions colliding with pathogens serve as the catalyst to form hydroxyl radicals, which is extremely reactive and highly unstable. With such volatile characteristics, the hydroxyl radicals rapidly bond with hydrogen atoms that are constituent parts of pathogen surface membrane. And the result; inactivated pathogens and a harmless by-product, water. Simple yet effective! But is it real or imaginary?
Plasmacluster Ion – Scientific Fact or Science Fiction?
A genuine Sharp air purifier review will not sweep aside an important doubt – are Plasmacluster Ions science fiction or scientific fact? Plasmacluster Ions, like many nano-technological products, are completely invisible to the naked human eye. Compounding the issue, the individuals who use air purifiers have no means to validate the claims. One obvious verification method is to view the results of using 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. It has developed to an art what they term as academic marketing. In association with leading academic institutions, Sharp puts its claims for Plasmacluster Ions to the test by scientists. From the joint efforts, scientific data generated provides a foundation for Sharp's new products. Two separate approaches to effectiveness, efficacy and efficiency, is being pursued by Sharp. Between 2000 and July 2009, it focused on efficacy testing. Taking centrestage now is efficiency testing which is carried out at end user locations where Plasmacluster Ion technology is employed.
Plasmacluster Ion – Authentication at Cellular Level
Probing indepth for this Sharp air purifier review, we sense that Sharp may be cementing its lead in this controversial industry with its focus on efficacy and efficiency testing. 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. 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 very significant result indicated that Plasmacluster Ions will not pierce the pathogens' cell membranes to reach the core cell DNA. This is highlighted as a clear advantage over any air purification technology that relies on DNA destruction to inactivate pathogens. Without quite saying so, the dangers of cancer from DNA annihilation is clearly alluded to for users of other air purification technologies.
Plasmacluster Ion – Efficacy Testing
This current Sharp air purifier review highlights the efficacy tests that Sharp has conducted, together with several organizations, on various pathogens. 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. Of the virulent microorganisms, the most important ones are MRSA (notorious for causing mortifying infections in hospitalized patients), the terrifying SARS virus, the potentially deadly H5N1 avian flu virus and a variant of the H1N1 virus that surfaced in Mexico in 2009.
The coxsackie virus which causes the common cold and the polio virus are also inactivated by Plasmacluster Ions. Also destroyed are bacteria like enterococcus, staphylococcus, white staphylococcus, micrococcus, serrata bacterium, sarcina, bacillus subtilis, escherichia coli, candida and pseudomonas. 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:
- University of Lübeck, Germany
- CT&T, Aachen University of Applied Science, Germany
- Retroscreen Virology, Ltd., London, UK
- Harvard School of Public Health, USA
- Asthma Society of Canada
- Ishikawa Health Service Association, Japan
- Kitasato Research Center of Environmental Sciences, Japan
- Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University, Japan
- Kitasato Institute, Medical Center Hospital, Japan
- Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China
- Seoul University, Korea
Osaka City University Medical School conducted the last reported efficacy test that validated the inhibitory properties of Plasmacluster Ions on allergic reactions caused by mite allergens (mite feces and dead mites).
In summarizing our Sharp air purifier review concerning efficacy testing, we note the importance of the GLP (Good Laboratory Practices), an OECD standard that lends weight to test results, status of the testing organizations. Renewed on a three year basis, GLP status is of international standard. A critical piece of information yet it is often disregarded by the critics of air purification technologies and academic marketing. Curiously, the fact that test data generated by a GLP laboratory can be readily peer reviewed by fellow scientists is also disregarded. 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!
We invite you to sign up as we proceed to complete our Sharp air purifier review.