The system mainly has two parts: the rail and the sliding contact.
The rail is usually made by engineering plastics(aluminum rail is optional), there are 3 to 8 pieces of copper strips in the rail;
The sliding contact has corresponding copper blocks with spring inside.
The electric power is supplied through copper strips in the rail to the copper blocks in the sliding contacts.
The sliding contacts will move along the rail, thus the electric power can be supplied in sliding mode.
The rail can be straight as well as bent.