Sharp Air Purifier Review – Plasmacluster Ion Technology Efficacy
Tiny is mighty may well describe the little dynamo that lies at the heart of Plasmacluster Ion technology. Our Sharp air purifier review will feature the ultra-high concentration Plasmacluster Ion generator. Measuring only 57mm by 28.5mm by 15.5mm, the little gadget produces the critical reactive agents.
Plasmacluster Ion Technology Overview
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 solid, liquid and gas. A partly ionized gas-like state, it contains free electrons that are not bound to a molecule or atom. Positive hydrogen ions and negative oxygen ions are formed from the decomposition of water molecules in the plasma. 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. The quirky nature of hydroxyl radicals made them ideal for speedy bonding with hydrogen atoms lining the surface membranes of pathogens. The result; a disabled pathogen and a harmless by-product, water. Simply perfect! But is it fact or fiction?
Plasmacluster Ion – Fiction or Fact?
A reliable Sharp air purifier review has to deal with a basic issue – 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. 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. There are 2 ways to do this, in the real world or efficiency testing or in the laboratory or efficacy testing.
Addressing these very real concerns of consumers instead of skirting the issue is testament to Sharp’s long track record of successes. To deal with this, Sharp introduced academic marketing. In association with leading academic institutions, Sharp puts its claims for Plasmacluster Ions to the test by scientists. The scientific data that is produced forms the basis for new Sharp products. Sharp has fine-tuned the definition of effectiveness into efficacy and efficiency. Efficacy testing has been the focus from the year 2000 to July 2009. Moving to center-stage currently is efficiency testing, typically conducted on the premises of business end users of Plasmacluster Ion technology.
Plasmacluster Ion – Authentication at Cellular Level
Delving deep 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. A leading authority in the field of cellular engineering, Professor Artmann through the use of an electron microscope confirmed that Plasmacluster Ions damaged more than 60 protein types on the cell membrane of pathogens leading to inactivation of the cells (both bacteria and viruses were tested).
Another significant finding was that Plasmacluster Ions do not penetrate the pathogen cell membrane to impact the 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. From September 2000 to July 2009, efficacy tests have proven that Plasmacluster Ions destroy 28 different kinds of harmful airborne pathogens. 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 annihilated are candida, pseudomonas, serrata bacterium, sarcina, escherichia coli, bacillus subtilis, micrococcus, enterococcus, white staphylococcus and staphylococcus. Also effectively eliminated are a whole array of fungi (stachybotrys, penicillium, mucor, cladosporium, aspergillus, alternaria), mite, pollen and other allergens.
The following organizations conducted tests on Plasmacluster Ion technology:
- 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 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 wrap up 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. 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 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!
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March 10, 2010 7:01 am 
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