A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system often shortened to belt conveyor A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys sometimes referred to as drums , with an endless loop of carrying medium¿the conveyor belt¿that rotates about them One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley is called the idler pulley There are two main industrial classes of belt conveyors those in general material handling such as those moving boxes along inside a factory and bulk material handling such as those used to transport large.