Patent ID: 7643319

Claim:
A 7-level wye-connected H-bridge converter, the H-bridge converter comprising: a plurality of semiconductor H-bridge output phases, each H-bridge output phase including semiconductor switches; a power source/sink, a dc-bus, an output leg and a connecting leg, a phase output of the converter from a midpoint of each output H-bridge leg, and a connecting output from a midpoint of each connecting semiconductor H-bridge leg; a three-phase semiconductor mid-bridge, including semiconductor switches; a power source/sink, a dc-bus, and a phase output at a mid-point of each of a first leg, a second leg and a third leg of the mid-bridge; a connection between the connecting output of each individual H-bridge leg and a corresponding phase output from the midpoint of a first leg, a second leg and a third leg of the three-phase semiconductor mid-bridge; and a gating source for the semiconductor H-bridge and the three-phase semiconductor mid-bridge.