In this paper, an improved HERIC inverter is proposed. It makes most switching devices operate at zero-current-switching state, by only adding auxiliary inductors on the freewheeling branch. Meanwhile, the dead-time is not required and the modulation of the system is simplified. First, the structure and operation principle of the proposed inverter is presented in detail. The common mode voltage keeps constant during the whole operation so it can reduce the leakage current. Then the main losses of system are analyzed. Compared to the conventional HERIC inverter, the switching losses and the diode reverse recovery losses are greatly reduced. Finally, the simulation results prove the correctness and feasibility of the proposed topology.