Patent ID: 8730696

Claim:
A multi-level voltage converter, comprising: a multi-point converter circuit configured for converting a DC voltage into an intermediate three-level voltage; and a plurality of cascade-connected full bridge inverter circuits electrically connected in series with the multi-point converter circuit and configured for receiving the intermediate three-level voltage to generate a (2 n+1 +1)-level output voltage corresponding to a single phase output, wherein n is a number of the cascade-connected full bridge inverter circuits, wherein each of the cascade-connected full bridge inverter circuits further comprises: a first switching pair comprising two switch units connected in series at a primary node; a second switching pair comprising two switch units connected in series at a secondary node, wherein the secondary node is connected to the primary node of a following full bridge inverter circuit; and a voltage supporting device electrically connected in parallel with the first switching pair and the second switching pair; wherein each of the switch units in the first switching pair and the second switching pair in an i-th-order full bridge inverter circuit of the cascade-connected full bridge inverter circuits further comprises 2 (n−i) switching devices, wherein i=1, 2, 3, . . . , n.