Multi-level inverters have increasingly gathered interest over the past decade due to their increased efficiency and power density for demanding applications such as power generation from renewable energy sources and high-performance drive and traction systems. For lower power systems in the kW range, gate driving circuitry can occupy area and volume much larger than that of the semiconductor devices, which is especially challenging in high device count topologies, thus prohibiting increase in power density. In an attempt to minimize such circuitry, this paper proposes an implementation of an 11-level single phase inverter, which can be extended to N-levels, with minimal driving requirements in terms of signal and power isolation. The concept is then validated through an 850 W laboratory prototype, reaching a peak efficiency of 97.1% and power density of over 4 kW/L.
