Computer-implemented systems and methods for detecting electrostatic discharges and determining their origination locations

An apparatus comprising:

• at least one solar panel, the at least one solar panel comprising:
• a plurality of solar cells;
• and
• a power bus connected to strings of solar cells, wherein the power bus conducts current generated by the plurality of solar cells;
• at least one power bus current probe that senses current in the power bus of the at least one solar panel;
• an ESD detection/location system comprising at least one processor and at least one memory unit, wherein the ESD detection/location system is capable of receiving current data indicative of current on the at least one power bus, wherein the ESD detection/location system is programmed to determine an origination location of ESD on the at least one solar panel by comparing current data input from the at least one power bus current probe to a plurality of ESD current profiles that are stored in a data store of the ESD detection/location system, each ESD profile corresponding to a different location on the at least one solar panel.

A computer-implemented method for determining an origination location of electrostatic discharge (ESD) on a surface, the method comprising:

• receiving and storing actual current data indicative of time-varying current on the surface by a programmable computer device;
• comparing by the programmable computer device the received actual current data to a plurality of ESD current profiles stored in a data store for the programmable computer device, wherein each ESD profile corresponds to a different location on the surface;
• and
• determining by the programmable computer device the origination location of the ESD on the surface based on the comparison.