Ink-jet printer

1. An ink-jet printer, comprising:

a conveyor configured to convey a sheet in a conveyance direction;

a recording head configured to discharge ink droplets from a nozzle, in a sheet facing area facing the sheet conveyed by the conveyor;

a power supply configured to supply a drive voltage to the recording head;

an ink receiver;

a command receiver; and

a controller configured to control the conveyor, the recording head and the power supply to execute:

determining an ink amount to be discharged toward the ink receiver;

determining a voltage value of the drive voltage and the number of ink droplets to discharge the determined ink amount to the ink receiver;

raising the drive voltage of the power supply to the determined voltage value;

performing a flushing process in which the determined number of ink droplets are discharged toward the ink receiver, under a condition that the command receiver receives a recording command which is an instruction to record an image on the sheet and that raising of the drive voltage has finished;

performing a printing process, under a condition that the flushing process has finished;

under a condition that the determined ink amount is not less than a first threshold value, determining the voltage value of the drive voltage such that the drive voltage becomes higher than the voltage value of the drive voltage determined when the determined ink amount is less than the first threshold value, and

under a condition that the determined ink amount is not less than a second threshold value which is larger than the first threshold value, determining the number of ink droplets such that the number of ink droplets becomes larger than the number of ink droplets determined when the determined ink amount is less than the second threshold value.

2. The ink-jet printer according to claim 1 , wherein

the nozzle includes:

a first nozzle configured to discharge ink droplets of a first color; and

a second nozzle configured to discharge ink droplets of a second color of which change in viscosity with drying is smaller than those of the first color, and

under a condition that the determined ink amount is not less than the second threshold value, the controller, determines the number of ink droplets discharged from the first nozzle to be larger than the number of ink droplets discharged from the second nozzle.

3. The ink-jet printer according to claim 1 , wherein

the controller determines the ink amount such that the longer an elapsed time from ink droplets being most recently discharged from the nozzle is, the larger the ink amount is determined to be.

4. The ink-jet printer according to claim 1 , wherein

the controller determines the ink amount such that the lower a temperature of a periphery of the recording head is, the larger the ink amount is determined to be.

5. The ink-jet printer according to claim 1 , wherein

the controller determines the ink amount such that the lower a humidity of a periphery of the recording head is, the larger the ink amount is determined to be.

6. The ink-jet printer according to claim 1 , wherein

under a condition that the determined ink amount is less than the second threshold value, the controller determines the number of ink droplets in a certain limit range, and

under a condition that the determined ink amount is not less than the second threshold value, the controller determines the number of ink droplets such that the number of ink droplets exceeds the limit range and the controller further determines the number of ink droplets such that the larger the determined ink amount is, the larger the number of ink droplets is determined to be.

7. The ink-jet printer according to claim 1 , wherein

under a condition that the determined ink amount is less than the first threshold value, the controller determines the drive voltage such that the larger the determined ink amount is, the higher the drive voltage is determined to be, within a range of a minimum voltage and a maximum voltage, and

under a condition that the determined ink amount is not less than the first threshold value, the controller determines the drive voltage to be the maximum voltage.

8. The ink-jet printer according to claim 1 , wherein

under a condition that the drive voltage has raised to a voltage which is higher than the minimum voltage and that the flushing process has finished, the controller controls the power supply to lower the drive voltage to the minimum voltage, and

under a condition that the flushing process has finished and that the drive voltage becomes the minimum voltage, the controller controls the conveyor and the recording head to perform the printing process.

9. The ink-jet printer according to claim 8 , wherein

the power supply includes a charger charging electric charges corresponding to the drive voltage, and

upon lowering the drive voltage, the controller controls the power supply to stop application of a voltage to the charger and causes the charger to self-discharge until the drive voltage reaches the minimum voltage.

10. The ink-jet printer according to claim 8 , further comprising:

a carriage being movable in a scanning direction in the sheet facing area, the scanning direction intersecting the conveyance direction; and

a sensor mounted in the carriage to detect that the sheet conveyed by the conveyor has reached the sheet facing area,

wherein the recording head is mounted on the carriage and has a plurality of the nozzles arranged in the scanning direction,

the ink receiver faces the recording head in a case that the carriage is positioned in a first position displaced in the scanning direction from the sheet facing area, and

the controller controls the conveyor, the recording head, the power supply and the carriage to execute:

in the flushing process, discharging the determined number of ink droplets from each of the plurality of the nozzles in an arrangement order in the scanning direction, while moving the carriage in an area including the first position; and

performing a first moving process which causes the carriage which is in motion to reach the sheet facing area without stopping the carriage, in parallel with lowering the drive voltage, under a condition that ink droplets has been discharged from all of the nozzles in the flushing process, executes:

conveying the sheet toward the sheet facing area; and

performing the printing process, under a condition that lowering the drive voltage has finished and that the sensor detects the conveyed sheet.

11. The ink-jet printer according to claim 10 , wherein

the controller controls the recording head and the carriage to execute:

moving the carriage at a first speed in the flushing process, in a case that the determined ink amount is less than a third threshold value which is larger than the second threshold value; and

moving the carriage at a second speed which is slower than the first speed in the flushing process, in a case that the determined ink amount is not less than the third threshold value.

12. The ink-jet printer according to claim 10 , wherein

the controller controls the recording head to execute:

discharging the determined number of ink droplets in a times of the flushing processes, under a condition that the determined ink amount is less than a fourth threshold value which is larger than the third threshold value; and

discharging the determined number of ink droplets dispersed in β (β>α) times of the flushing processes, under a condition that the determined ink amount is not less than the fourth threshold value.

13. The ink-jet printer according to claim 10 , wherein

the controller determines the ink amount, under a condition that the command receiver receives a preceding command giving prior notice of transmission of the recording command.

14. The ink-jet printer according to claim 13 , further comprising:

a cap facing the recording head in a case that the carriage is positioned in a second position which is a position displaced in the scanning direction from the sheet facing area , the second position being different from the first position; and

a cap shifter configured to move the cap relative to the recording head, between a covering position where the cap closely contacts the recording head to cover the nozzle and a separated position where the cap is separated from the recording head,

wherein under a condition that the command receiver receives the preceding command, in parallel with raising the drive voltage, the controller controls the power supply, the cap shifter and the carriage to execute:

taking the cap off the recording head by changing a relative position of the recording head and the cap from the covering position to the separated position; and

performing a second moving process in which the carriage is moved from the second position toward the first position, in a case that the cap and the recording head has separated.

15. The ink-jet printer according to claim 1 , wherein

the controller determines the number of ink droplets such that the number of ink droplets becomes the same when the determined ink amount is not less than the first threshold value and when the determined ink amount is less than the first threshold value.

16. The ink-jet printer according to claim 1 , wherein

the controller determines the voltage value of the drive voltage such that the drive voltage becomes the same when the determined ink amount is not less than the second threshold value and when the determined ink amount is less than the second threshold value.