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Actually, pretty simple device for medium pressure applications, just a one way valve operated by a piston attached to a rotary gear on the shaft.
Basically the same as a water pump, but instead of sucking up water, you compress the air. Push instead of pull.
Once installed, you don't have a lot of costs associated with them outside of routine maintenance, so yeah, they would work pretty well.
You can get fairly good pressure if you have enough wind going by, they don't work well if you have low velocity winds.
The windmill fills the pressure tank to a predetermined pressure. The pressure tanks may be considered as analogous to batteries. The storage in this case is before rather than after generating the electricity. This means that the user has compressed air tanks with an indefinite life rather than batteries which have a life of only a few years.
The problem is, you have to have a constant source of power to compress the air. As an example a windmill, is only usable when the wind blows, otherwise no compressed air. A water wheel to drive a compressor or a generator needs the right water flow to make it happen.
For a water turbine, you have to have a constant supply of water, and enough fall to cause the water pressure needed to drive the turbine. It is much more controllable than a water wheel.
And dealing with using water flow, it may or may not be allowed depending on any restrictions on the use of water. In some parts of the country, they do not allow someone without a long standing permit to do anything with the water that flows through their own property. Without water rights, you simply cannot do anything with the water on your property.
You haven't shown or described the windmill itself, or the pipes/hoses that transport the compressed air to the tank, which is the key element in the system.
And don't forget the drop off in compression ability as the air encounters resistance from the storage container. Just remember MDI's Air Car and the Catecar, the issues with those was the energy needed to fill the tanks was pretty high. The storage tanks needed capacity and psi was equivalent to a large industrial compressor. Once you reached a certain PSI, , most home systems probably wouldn't be sufficient int he long run.
Even today, Tata Motor's new design and upgrade to MDI's system, (being tested in the US) requires commercial compressors, industrial gas suppliers, or commercial dive shops to refill the tanks in a reasonable time. I'm sure a windmill can fill some pressurize tank over time to a certain psi, but filling a container needed to power equipment of any substantial size may be beyond the output ability of the wind.
The windmill fills the pressure tank to a predetermined pressure. The pressure tanks may be considered as analogous to batteries. The storage in this case is before rather than after generating the electricity. This means that the user has compressed air tanks with an indefinite life rather than batteries which have a life of only a few years.
Compressed air tanks don't have an indefinite life, there isn't a container that will hold increased pressure indefinitely, the connections aren't perfect either, and the tanks and fittings that can hold increased pressure effectively indefinitely would make them completely cost ineffective for the intent, it would be far cheaper to just go buy 2-3 3kW wind turbines and store one or two in a Faraday cage, than construct some Rube Goldberg machine.
Further just like batteries their output is at the vagaries of the external conditions. Cold temps will reduce pressure (and the voltage from typical batteries), high barometric pressure effectively reduces the pressure too (the pressure differential falls, which does not happen with batteries) at 50psi upwards this really isn't an issue (the loss is less than 1-2%) but if it's below that the loss can be up to 8% just in difference in atmospherics. Since this is using some piston compressor on a windmill I can't really see you generating high pressures in sufficient quantities to be meaningful, I mean I've got a 20cc high volume piston inflater that draws 10A at 12V (so 120w), it takes around 10 minutes to inflate a tire from flat to 50psi (and 50psi isn't really high pressure, none of that will drive compressed air tools effectively)
Thing I find rather ironic is you're taking rotary motion, converting to linear motion (the compression piston) compressing a gas as storage, to power linear motion to create rotary motion, to power a low tech generator. The conversions of energy needed make this ridiculously inefficient, all to avoid something that the actual idea doesn't even address how it will supply clean, stable, electrical power without the areas you're trying to avoid.
This is a small example of a compressed air windmill. I'd start with a call to Aeromotor, the company that manufactured my water windmill. I don't believe that they make compressed air windmills, but I suspect that they could point me in the right direction. My interest is in providing adequate power using simple technology. If the balloon goes up, electronic trinkets go into the garbage
Used propane tanks, big ones, can provide inexpensive storage.
There are off-gridders who don't use ANY power. They heat with wood, light with kerosene, haul their water from the hand pump, use ice boxes, and in general, live the "1880s life style".
I see no reason for most of us to do that right now. That said, if power becomes unavailable for whatever reason, those who survive will be the ones who have the gear and the skills to live without any power. Do you have a solar oven? A rocket stove? A wood stove? Oil lamps? Candles? An outhouse?
Do you live in the south and depend on air conditioning? Might want to think about that!
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