A New Switched-Capacitor Boost-Multilevel Inverter Using Partial Charging

In this brief, a new switched-capacitor-boost-multilevel (SCBM) inverter is proposed and implemented. This inverter possesses the distinct features of both voltage boost up and near-sinusoidal staircase output voltage. The key is to utilize partial charging in such a way that multiple voltage steps per capacitor can be realized, hence significantly reducing the number of capacitors for a given number of levels. Based on using only two capacitors, a 13-level SCBM inverter is designed and analyzed, with emphasis on assessing its total harmonic distortion. Both simulation and experimental results are given to confirm the theoretical analysis.