Sharp Air Purifier Review – The Efficacy of Plasmacluster Ion Technology

Ironically, for something potentially massive in reach, Plasmacluster Ion technology is powered by 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, its size is dwarfed by its importance of producing the essential reactive agents without which the air purifier is completely useless.

Synopsis of Plasmacluster Ion Technology

Plasma is formed upon delivery of negative and positive voltages to the discharge electrodes in the Plasmacluster Ion generator. Plasma is often described as the fourth state of matter after gas, liquid, solid. Plasma is a partly ionized fluid mixture of free electrons, atoms and moelcules. 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. Any contact by Plasmacluster Ions with pathogens leads to the instantaneous formation of the highly unstable and reactive hydroxyl radical. Such a mercurial make-up causes hydroxyl radicals to quickly interact with hydrogen atoms on the surface mebranes of pathogens. And the result; inactivated pathogens and a harmless by-product, water. Simple yet effective! But is it real?

Plasmacluster Ion – Scientific Fact or Fiction?

A genuine Sharp air purifier review must resolve a fundamental doubt – are Plasmacluster Ions fiction or fact? As with many other products emerging from the field of nanotechnology, Plasmacluster Ions are invisible to the naked eye. And the individual air purifier user has no means to verify its authenticity. Accordingly, individuals can only depend on the findings of tests conducted with Plasmacluster Ions. This is done in 2 ways, in the laboratory (efficacy test) and in the real world (efficiency test).

Addressing these very real concerns of consumers instead of skirting the issue is testament to Sharp's long track record of successes. In this regard, Sharp has developed the art 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. 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

Digging deeper 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. That Plasmacluster Ions technology destroys pathogens without the need to impact their DNA is claimed as an advantage over other air purification technologies that work only with DNA annihilation. The danger to users of other air purification technologies being exposed to cancer from DNA damage was implied.

Plasmacluster Ion – Efficacy Tests

This current Sharp air purifier review puts on one page the efficacy tests on various pathogens performed by organizations engaged 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 v irulent microorganisms were totally destroyed. It is noteworthy that the list of 28 includes such notoriously harmful pathgoens like MRSA, a bacterium that infects hospitalized patients, and viruses like the SARS virus, the H5N1 avian flu virus and the H1N1 virus that caused many fatalities in Mexico in 2009.

The polio virus and the coxsackie virus which causes the common cold are also destroyed 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.

Organizations which worked with Sharp included the following:

- Asthma Society of Canada

- University of Lübeck, Germany

- CT&T, Aachen University of Applied Science, Germany

- Harvard School of Public Health, USA

- Retroscreen Virology, Ltd., London, UK

- Seoul University, Korea

- Ishikawa Health Service Association, Japan

- Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University, Japan

- Kitasato Research Center of Environmental Sciences, Japan

- Kitasato Institute, Medical Center Hospital, Japan

- Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China

The most recent test reported on 27 July 2009 was conducted by Osaka City University Medical School to validate the inhibitory effects 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 note the importance of the GLP (Good Laboratory Practices), an OECD standard that lends weight to test results, status of the testing organizations. GLP status is renewable on a 3-year basis. Extremely critical yet this factor is totally ignored by detractors 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 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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