Powered clearing-disks, control system, and method of use

A method of clearing agricultural residue from an agricultural row, comprising:

• moving an agricultural row unit over soil in a forward direction;
• operating a motor coupled to a drive clearing-disk at an operating speed to rotate the drive clearing-disk about a first axis and to rotate a driven clearing-disk about a second axis offset from the first axis;
• adjusting the operating speed of the motor in response to at least one of a speed of the agricultural row unit in the forward direction, a height of the drive clearing-disk relative to a surface of the soil, a height of the driven clearing-disk relative to the surface of the soil, an amount of crop residue in the row, and a downforce pressure on a portion of the agricultural row unit;
• wherein operating a motor coupled to a drive clearing-disk at an operating speed to rotate the drive clearing-disk about a first axis and to rotate a driven clearing-disk about a second axis offset from the first axis includes:
• engaging the drive clearing-disk with a gear assembly driven by the drive clearing-disk;
• and
• engaging the gear assembly with the driven clearing-disk to drive rotation of the driven clearing-disk about the second axis.

An agricultural row unit adapted to be moved in a forward direction over soil to clear agricultural residue, the agricultural row unit comprising:

• an attachment frame;
• a drive clearing-disk coupled to the attachment frame for rotation about a first axis;
• and
• a driven clearing-disk coupled to the attachment frame for rotation about a second axis offset from the first axis;
• wherein the drive clearing-disk is drivingly coupled via a gear assembly to the driven clearing-disk to rotate the driven clearing-disk about the second axis;
• wherein the driven disk is movable relative to the attachment frame between (i) a first position in which a first disk-to-disk angle is defined by the intersection of first axis and the second axis and (ii) a second position in which a second disk-to-disk angle is defined by the intersection of first axis and the second axis;
• wherein the driven disk is movable relative to the attachment frame between (i) a third position in which a first disk-to-soil angle is defined between the second axis and a plane approximating the surface of the soil (ii) a fourth position in which a second disk-to-soil angle is defined between the second axis and the plane approximating the surface of the soil, and
• wherein the second disk-to-disk angle is different than the first disk-to-disk angle;
• wherein the second disk-to-soil angle is different than the first disk-to-soil angle;
• and
• wherein the controller is configured to move the driven disk between the first and second positions and between the third and fourth positions.