Sharp Air Purifier Review – The Efficacy of Plasmacluster Ion Technology
Small at heart but enormous in potential impact best describes Plasmacluster Ion technology which runs on a tiny dynamo. Our Sharp air purifier review continues with a focus on the intense 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.
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 often described as the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas. A partly ionized gas-like state, it contains free electrons that are not bound to a molecule or atom. The disintegration of naturally occurring water molecules in the plasma lead to the formation of 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. The highly unstable and super-reactive hydroxyl radical comes into existence once Plasmacluster Ions touch any pathogens. This characteristic causes the hydroxyl radical to combine with hydrogen atoms on the surface membrane of the pathogen. The result; a disabled pathogen and a harmless by-product, water. Simple yet effective! But is it for real?
Plasmacluster Ion – Fact or Fiction?
A genuine Sharp air purifier review has to deal with a basic issue – are Plasmacluster Ions fiction or scientific fact? Plasmacluster Ions, like many other emerging nanotechnology products, are totally invisible to the human eye. To complicate matters, individuals who use air purifiers have no scientific means to ascertain if the claims are genuine. 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, consistent with its long track record of achievements, scores again in having anticipated these valid concerns. Developed almost into an art by Sharp is the concept of academic marketing. This is a collaborative research approach to product marketing, whereby the effectiveness of Plasmacluster Ion technology is verified based on scientific data developed in conjunction with leading academic research institutions. Scientific data generated from such collaborative efforts becomes the foundation of new products from Sharp. The definition of effectiveness has been fine-tuned into efficacy and efficiency. The years between 2000 and July 2009 has seen Sharp focusing 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
Delving deep for this Sharp air purifier review, we are convinced that Sharp believes that science will give them the lead; hence the focus on 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. 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.
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. 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. 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 puts together some of the efficacy tests on pathogens performed by Sharp together with many organizations. 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 pathogens, the most significant are the lethal SARS virus, the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus, a variant of the potentially fatal H1N1 virus which re-appeared in Mexico in 2009 and MRSA, the resistant bacterium that causes devastating infections in hospitalized patients.
Other viruses which have been destroyed by Plasmacluster Ions include coxsackie virus (causes colds), feline coronavirus and polio virus. Equally susceptible have been bacteria like serrata bacterium, enterococcus, staphylococcus, sarcina, micrococcus, bacillus subtilis, pseudomonas, escherichia coli, white staphylococcus and candida. Allergens, mites, pollen, are effectively inactivated together with alternaria, stachybotrys, aspergillus, penicillium, cladosporium and mucor.
Organizations which worked with Sharp included the following:
- 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).
Wrapping up our Sharp air purifier review in relation to 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. So obviously crucial yet detractors of academic marketing and air purification technologies choose to completely ignore this factor. Yet another critical factor that is worthy of mention is that surely the work of a GLP laboratory can be scientifically peer reviewed. As we know, the scientific peer review is the missing final jigsaw piece in the puzzle of all air purification technologies, Plasmacluster Ion technology included!
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