A multilevel soft-switching inverter with inductor coupling

This paper proposes a new soft-switching flying capacitor multilevel invert er that can be generalized and be extended from three levels to any number of levels. The proposed inverter has the advantages of lower voltage and cu rrent ratings for auxiliary switches and diodes, achieved by using a couple d inductor and midpoint rail between the de capacitors, Various aspects, in cluding operation, design, control, and switching patterns are presented. F urthermore, voltage balancing for stability along with safe operation is st udied through simulation and experiment. Results indicate that the proposed inverter achieves a zero-voltage condition in all of the main switches and a zero-current turn-off to the auxiliary switches during commutation proce sses.