Abstract A novel isolated 7‐level (7L) multi‐level inverter (MLI) topology for grid‐connected medium and high voltage power applications is presented in this paper. The topology consists of two isolated transformers with different winding ratio and four switches connected to a single‐phase grid. This topology provides a great advantage over conventional MLIs by reducing passive and active components to allowing a 7L output voltage. Moreover, model predictive control (MPC) method is implemented to 7L‐MLI to generate gate signals of switches and ensure capacitor voltage balancing and grid connection. Performance of proposed topology has been confirmed by in‐depth analysis under simulation and laboratory setup with existing studies. Experimental results of a 1.5?kW 220?Vrms prototype are presented to support the simulation results. The prototype shows that the harmonic results match the limits of the IEC 61000‐3‐2 standard and show a better performance for grid connection and capacitor voltage balancing than conventional ones.
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