This paper presents a new switched-ladder structure for multilevel converter which consists of several bidirectional and unidirectional switches along with DC voltage sources. The values of DC sources in the proposed topology are determined based on a new mathematical algorithm. The proposed multilevel converter is an extended structure, which can produce any levels at output voltage waveform. To prove the merits of the proposed structure, the proposed converter is compared with other similar structures. According to comparison results, it is shown that the presented structure requires the least numbers of DC sources, IGBTs, drivers and on-state switches. Also, the value of voltage rating of the switches is analyzed. The experimental results are provided for the proposed 17-level converter to prove the performance of suggested structure.

中文翻译：

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一种减少电力电子元件的新型开关梯形多电平变换器结构

本文提出了一种用于多电平转换器的新型开关梯形结构，该结构由多个双向和单向开关以及直流电压源组成。提出的拓扑中直流源的值是基于一种新的数学算法确定的。所提出的多电平转换器是一种扩展结构，可以在输出电压波形上产生任何电平。为了证明所提出结构的优点，将所提出的转换器与其他类似结构进行了比较。根据比较结果，表明所提出的结构需要最少数量的直流电源、IGBT、驱动器和通态开关。此外，还分析了开关的额定电压值。为所提出的 17 电平转换器提供了实验结果，以证明所提出结构的性能。