Power supply apparatus

A power supply apparatus, comprising:

• a combined power source composed of a plurality of power cells configured electrically independently;
• a switch, connected to the combined power source, for arbitrarily changing connection paths of the respective power cells by selectively connecting terminals of the plurality of power cells through switching elements, the switch having the same number of input terminals as the number of the terminals of the plurality of power cells and two-electrode output terminals;
• a voltage detector for respectively detecting differences in electrical potentials between the terminals of the plurality of power cells;
• a voltage regulator, connected between the combined power source and a load, for stabilizing a voltage supplied to the load;
• an output detector for detecting a power consumption in the load and/or an output power of the combined power source;
• and
• a controller for controlling ON-OFF states of the switching elements by controlling the switch by a control signal generated based on voltage signals representing the differences in electrical potentials detected by the voltage detector, the power consumption, and the output power of the combined power source.