Patent ID: 8444250

Claim:
A liquid ejection apparatus comprising: a liquid-ejection head having a plurality of ejection openings and configured to eject image recording liquid through the ejection openings to record an image on a recording medium; a sealing mechanism configured to selectively establish (i) a sealed state in which an ejection space in which the ejection openings are open is sealed from an outside and (ii) an unsealed state in which the ejection space is not sealed from the outside; a humid-air supply mechanism including a humidification-liquid tank storing humidification liquid and configured to supply an air humidified by the humidification liquid into the ejection space; a humidification-liquid detecting device configured to detect a remaining amount of the humidification liquid stored in the humidification-liquid tank; a liquid-discharge portion configured to have the image recording liquid be discharged from the plurality of the ejection openings; and a controller configured to control the sealing mechanism, the humid-air supply mechanism, and the liquid-discharge portion, wherein the controller controls the humid-air supply mechanism to supply the humid air into the ejection space during the sealed state of the ejection space established by the sealing mechanism and then controls the liquid-discharge portion such that the image recording liquid is discharged from the plurality of the ejection openings prior to the ejection of the image recording liquid onto the recording medium for recording the image on the recording medium, and wherein, where the remaining amount of the humidification liquid detected by the humidification-liquid detecting device is less than a first predetermined value, the controller is configured to execute a control such that an amount of the humid air supplied into the ejection space in the sealed state and an amount of the image recording liquid discharged from the plurality of the ejection openings are respectively made small and large as compared with in a case where the remaining amount of the humidification liquid detected by the humidification-liquid detecting device is equal to or larger than the first predetermined value.