AUTOMATIC DETERMINATION OF A DYNAMIC LASER BEAM SHAPE FOR A LASER CUTTING MACHINE

In one aspect the invention relates to a control unit (100) for determining a dynamic laser beam shape for controlling a laser cutting machine (L), which is provided with e.g., a dynamic beam shaping module for varying the shape of the laser beam, with:A cutting plan interface (101), which is configured for receiving a cutting plan to be processed for cutting out parts of a workpiece, wherein each part is defined by a cutting contour, wherein the cutting contour is segmented in a set of cutting segments, wherein each workpiece is characterized by a property indicator, selected from the group consisting of a material indicator and/or a thickness indicator;An interface (102) to a shape storage (ShS) with a stored set of dynamic laser beam shapes, in particular more than two;A processor (P) which is configured for automatically calculating for each of the cutting segments iteratively for all parts to be cut out of the workpiece an allocation to a dynamic laser beam shape of the set of dynamic laser beam shapes, stored in the shape storage (ShS), wherein calculating the allocation (S3) is based on the property indicator of the workpiece and is specific for the respective cutting segment;and wherein the processor (P) is further configured for providing control instructions (CI) via an output interface (103) for controlling the laser cutting machine (L) for executing the received cutting plan by applying the determined dynamic laser beams shapes for each cutting segment specifically.