Achieving high voltage levels is an important issue in the design of multi-level inverters (MLIs). In this paper, the basic unit of a new switched-capacitor (SC) topology is extended to achieve higher voltage levels with fewer components. The capacitors are charged from the single supply voltage directly by turning on appropriate switching states, which can generate a high-amplitude nearly sinusoidal output voltage. The operating principles, modulation strategy, method of determining capacitance, and power loss of the extended structure are presented in detail. Also, a comparative study with recent similar structures has been done. The extended SCMLI has the advantages of self-balancing the voltage of the capacitors, generating a bipolar output voltage, and satisfying the standard of harmonics (IEEE519). The experimental test and MATLAB simulation results of a 17-level prototype are given to verify the performance of the extended structure.
