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. 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 Synopsis
Plasma is produced when negative and positive voltages are administered to the discharge electrodes in the Plasmacluster Ion generator. Increasingly, plasma is accepted as the 4th state of matter, after the commonly known solid, liquid and gas. Comprising electrons that roam freely without bondage to any molecule or atom, plasma exists in a partly ionized gaseous condition. Natural water molecules in the plasma are decomposed 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. Upon contact with the surfaces of pathogens, Plasmacluster Ions are transformed into hydroxyl radicals which are highly reactive but 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 fact or fiction?
Plasmacluster Ion – Fact or Fiction?
An honest Sharp air purifier review should not ignore the insecapable question – are Plasmacluster Ions science fiction or scientific fact? As with many other products emerging from the field of nanotechnology, Plasmacluster Ions are invisible to the naked eye. Making matters tricky for individuals who rely on air purifiers is the inability to test the validity of the claims. Individuals really have no alternative but to base their decisions on tests results of Plasmacluster Ion applications. This is done in 2 ways, in the laboratory (efficacy test) and in the real world (efficiency test).
Anticipating these valid consumer concerns is testimony of the long track record of successes by Sharp. It has developed to an art what they term as academic marketing. Working in conjunction with reputable academic institutions, Sharp subjects its claims regarding Plasmacluster Ions to the scrutiny of reputable scientists. Scientific data generated from such collaborative efforts becomes the foundation of new products from Sharp. Effectiveness has been further dissected into 2 separate categories, efficacy and efficiency. Efficacy testing has been the focus from the year 2000 to July 2009. Since then, there has been a shift towards efficiency testing in collaboration with business users of Plasmacluster Ion technology.
Plasmacluster Ion – Verification at Atomic Levels
Delving deep for this Sharp air purifier review, we discovered that Sharp is doing its utmost in efficacy and efficiency testing so as to be outstanding in the industry. 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. The fact that Plasmacluster Ions annihilate pathogens without having to destroy their DNA is claimed as an advantage over some other air purification technologies that specifically rely on DNA destruction. Clearly, the danger of cancer from DNA destruction is also being alluded to with regard to other air purification technologies .
Plasmacluster Ion – Efficacy Testing
This current Sharp air purifier review puts together some of the efficacy tests on pathogens performed by Sharp together with many organizations. From September 2000 to July 2009, efficacy 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 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. Equally susceptible have been bacteria like serrata bacterium, enterococcus, staphylococcus, sarcina, micrococcus, bacillus subtilis, pseudomonas, escherichia coli, white staphylococcus and candida. 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 conclude our Sharp air purifier review in relation to efficacy testing, we would highlight that a key factor is that they were conducted by organizations which have attained GLP (Good Laboratory Practices) status, an OECD guideline that attests the reliability of tests results produced. 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. Yet another overlooked fact is the possibility of scientifically peer reviewing the test results of a GLP laboratory. 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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