Study of the Influence of Different Tip Mass on a Piezoelectric Vibration Energy Harvester to Be Installed in a Machinery Foundation

Industry 4.0, also known as the Internet of Things (IoT), will be one of the main drivers in industrial systems optimization and enhance asset reliability. The technology, also known as the Internet of Industrial Things (IIoT) can be applied in the maritime sector, which offers an interesting potential. However, the IoT implies an extensive use of sensors to generate enough data to be used in the new approach of the Digital Twin systems—a problem associated with IIoT sensors is the increased energy consumption, installation, and data transmission, which could imply an extensive use of wiring cables and batteries, consequently increasing the Capital cost. One technique to avoid wires and batteries is by the implementation of energy Harvesters using piezoelectric systems that take advantage of the remanent wasted vibrational energy generated by the fundaments of machines on board; those vibrations and harvesting systems are known as Vibration Energy Harvesters (VEH). This work evaluates different experimental configurations of VEH systems and selected the most suitable to be installed on the foundations of a laboratory test bench and evaluate its feasibility through the transfer function.