Patent ID: 7960669

Claim:
A hybrid thermal cutting apparatus comprising a plasma torch which generates a plasma arc and a laser head which generates a laser beam, comprising: a table for supporting a plate material; a shift mechanism which shifts said plasma torch and said laser head within a working space over said table; and a controller which controls said plasma torch, said laser head and said shift mechanism so that said plate material upon said table is cut along predetermined cutting lines; wherein said controller comprises: a supervisory control device having processing command information which defines said cutting lines, and which classifies said cutting lines into a plasma cutting type or a laser cutting type, according to processing conditions which include the geometric characteristics of said cutting lines, or processing accuracy, or characteristics of said plate material; a plasma control device which controls said plasma torch based upon said processing command information, and controls said plasma torch to perform cutting along said cutting lines classified as said plasma cutting type by the supervisory control device; and a laser control device which controls said laser head based upon said processing command information, and controls said laser head to perform cutting along said cutting lines classified as said laser cutting type by the supervisory control device.