Sleeve compensators, also known as pipe expansion joints, are compensation devices for hot fluid pipelines, primarily used for the installation of straight pipelines. Suitable for hot water, steam, and oil-based media, they achieve thermal expansion compensation through the sliding movement of the sleeve on the outer sleeve.
Sleeve compensators are suitable for medium engineering pressures of ≤4.5 MPa and medium temperatures ranging from -190℃ to 630℃.
The sleeve compensator employs a new type of sealing material, flexible graphite, which boasts high strength, a low friction coefficient (0.04~0.10), non-aging properties, excellent performance, and ease of maintenance.
The sleeve compensator has a long service life, with fatigue life comparable to that of the pipeline. The sliding surface is treated specially, suitable for saltwater, brine solutions, etc.Excellent corrosion resistance in the environment, over 50 times higher than that of austenitic stainless steel. Moreover, it can automatically repair under the pressure of spring tension when the sealing effect weakens due to wear after many years, without affecting continued use. The sleeve-type compensator has no requirements for chloride ion content, and is particularly suitable for systems where the medium or surrounding environment has excessive chloride ions.

Sleeve compensators are available in uni-directional and bi-directional compensation structures. The feature of the bi-directional type is that regardless of the medium entering the compensator from which end, the sliding sleeves at both ends of the compensator always slide freely, achieving bi-directional compensation and increasing the compensation amount.
Direct-buried sleeve-type compensators can be buried directly underground, eliminating the need for maintenance wells during installation, and are cost-effective in construction. Sleeve-type compensators are suitable for straight pipeline installations and consist of an inner sleeve, outer sleeve, check valve filling assembly, tail sleeve, filling cavity, guide bearing, and more.
Sleeve Compensator Structural Features:
(1) By means of relative sliding motion along the pipeline axis direction, absorbing the thermal elongation of the pipeline and shortening the thermal contraction, to release the thermal stress of the pipeline.
(2) Special sealants are injected through check valves, enabling sliding seals between the inner sleeves under balanced sealing pressure.
(3) Relying on the guide bearing to bear the lateral force of the pipeline, it achieves high coaxiality in the relative motion between the inner and outer sleeves, preventing abrasion of the electroplated inner sleeve, ensuring more reliable and durable sealing during the pipeline's operating state.
(4) The inner tube is designed with a firm anti-pulling-out feature at the end, enhancing the product's safety.