Sharp Air Purifier Review – The Efficacy of Plasmacluster Ion Technology
Tiny yet power-packed, a little dynamo resides at the core of Plasmacluster Ion technology. Our Sharp air purifier review will feature the ultra-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
Plasma is generated when negative and positive voltages are directed at the discharge electrodes in the Plasmacluster Ion generator. Plasma is recognized as the 4th state of matter after gas, liquid, solid. Containing electrons that roam free from any bond to atoms and molecules, it exists as a partially ionized gaseous state. The disintegration of naturally occurring water molecules in the plasma lead to the formation of negative oxygen ions and positive hydrogen ions. Separately, water molecules in the air cluster around the oxygen and hydrogen ions, resulting in the distinctively stable Plasmacluster Ions being created. The highly unstable and super-reactive hydroxyl radical comes into existence once Plasmacluster Ions touch any pathogens. These characteristics cause the hydroxyl radical to bond readily with hydrogen atoms on pathogen surface membranes. The result; a disabled pathogen and a harmless by-product, water. Simple yet effective! But is it real or imaginary?
Plasmacluster Ion – Scientific Fact or Science Fiction?
An honest Sharp air purifier review cannot ignore the basic doubt in users’ minds – are Plasmacluster Ions science fiction or scientific fact? Plasmacluster Ions, like many nano-technological products, are completely invisible to the naked human eye. And the individual air purifier user has no means to verify its authenticity. Obvious alternative authentication means would be to rely on tests results of Plasmacluster Ion experiments. This is done in 2 ways, in the laboratory (efficacy test) and in the real world (efficiency test).
An established corporate player with a long track record of successes, Sharp has anticipated these concerns. It has developed to an art what they term as academic marketing. This is a collaborative effort between Sharp and academia with the objective of reputable institutions testing and producing scientific data to confirm the claims made with regard to Plasmacluster Ions. The scientific data that is produced forms the basis for new Sharp products. The definition of effectiveness has been fine-tuned into efficacy and efficiency. Between 2000 and July 2009, it focused on efficacy testing. Efficiency testing in conjunction with corporate end users of Plasmacluster Ion technology is the current focus.
Plasmacluster Ion – Authentication at Cellular Level
Seeking further for the purpose of this Sharp air purifier review, we believe that it is Sharp’s strategy to focus on efficacy and efficiency testing to become the leader. 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. Cellular engineering expert Professor Artmann used an electron microscope to demonstrate that Plasmacluster Ions destroyed at least 60 types of proteins on the cell membranes of bacteria and viruses.
A finding of great significance was that the pathogens’ cell DNA is not affected by Plasmacluster Ions which do not pass through the surface membrane. 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 summarizes t he efficacy tests conducted on various pathogens by Sharp and its partners. Conducted over the years from September 2000 to July 2009, the tests have proven that Plasmacluster Ions are effective in removing 28 kinds of harmful 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.
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.
Many organizations, counting among them some prestigious names, worked with Sharp; including:
- 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 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. GLP status has to be renewed every 3 years. An important factor, yet this fact is often given no weight by critics of academic marketing and air purification technologies. 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 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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