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In this paper, a bidirectional diode containing multilevel inverter is introduced to reduce the number of switching elements especially in the case of a high number of output voltage levels. In comparison with classic and recently introduced symmetrical topologies, which are trying to reduce the switch count, this topology has a lower number of semiconductor switches in the same number of output voltage levels. This makes the proposed inverter to be a suitable choice for medium voltage applications like renewable energy applications as well as medium voltage electric drives. Moreover, it can be used in a cascaded configuration for high voltage levels. To depict the performance of the proposed structure, a comprehensive comparison is made between this topology and classic and recently proposed symmetric topologies in terms of switch and gate driver count, power losses, and cost. The performance of the proposed symmetrical 11-level converter is analyzed and simulated in MATLAB/Simulink for both PWM and selective harmonic elimination switching methods. Not only the results are desirable but also the experimental results of laboratory prototype validate the simulation results.

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In this paper, a new transformerless buck–boost converter is proposed. This converter is based on combining two basic converters, including Cuk and traditional buck–boost converters, along with a voltage multiplier (VM) at the output side. The proposed semi‐quadratic buck–boost converter operates in continuous conduction mode (CCM) and provides two operation modes by turning the switches on and off. This converter has some merits such as a wide conversion ratio and continuous input current. The proposed converter consists of two switches with simultaneous operation resulting in simplicity in control. A modular configuration and a wide range of duty cycles are available through the proposed converter, which causes higher or lower output voltage and facilitates the converter maintenance. The calculations of the ideal and the real voltage gain, voltage stress of switches and diodes, efficiency, and design consideration of elements are given in this paper. Finally, a prototype is implemented, and experimental waveforms are obtained to prove and validate the simulation results as well as the theoretical analysis of the proposed converter.