At 05:24 PM 12/7/2013, Steve Cotsford wrote:
>I think I said before that I am not an electrical engineer and I am
>much more at home with hydraulics so perhaps I should

You can get quite a ways by considering electricity as an analogue of
hydraulics.

psi --> volts
gpm --> amps

psi drop x gpm --> hp.  Voltage drop x amps --> wattage (746 watts / hp).

An orifice or very skinny pipe --> a resistor (but even fat pipes
have resistance, see your flow tables).
Pressure drop across an orifice, skinny pipe, hydraulic motor etc -->
voltage drop across a wire, resistor, or load.
An accumulator --> a capacitor.  Especially an accumulator with input
at each end and a stretchy diaphragm in the middle.
A dual-acting cylinder moving a massive free weight --> an inductor.
A valve --> a switch
Engine-driven pump --> generator (or battery.  But batteries use
chemistry so they're more complicated in detail.  In very rough terms
you can think of a battery as an accumulator).

Yrs,
d