Abstract: In order to reduce the number of switching devices in high-order multi-level converters, a 17-level converter topology with only 12 switching devices and 2 flying capacitors was proposed, and the working principle and mode of the circuit were analyzed. Compared with several typical 17-level inverters, the proposed 17-level inverter have advantages in the number of switching devices, the number of flying capacitors and the number of driving circuits. The most important is that the number of switching devices through which current flows is the least, which makes the proposed 17-level converter have the smallest device losses. In addition, the core parameters of converter, such as output current, DC bus capacitor voltages and flying capacitor voltages, are controlled by finite control set model predictive control strategy. The effectiveness of the proposed 17-level converter and the feasibility of the capacitor voltage balance control strategy were verified by simulation. Finally, a hardware platform was built to further verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter and its control strategy.