Use of passive control systems causes reduction in seismic demand and prevents damage to the main components of the structure. Yielding dampers are among the common tools used for dissipation of earthquake energy entering the structure. The main goal of the present research is introduction of a novel pseudo elliptical yielding damper for improvement of the seismic performance of the existing steel structures. Considering the impact of geometric parameters of the pseudo elliptical damper on its stiffness and strength, a precise numerical study was performed on the ratio of diameter to thickness and other dimensions of the damper in this research.  For evaluating the impact of proposed damper on the seismic performance of existing steel buildings, use was made of three benchmark structures with 3, 9 and 12 stories which were retrofitted by this type of dampers. Also, the nonlinear time history analysis has been performed using the near field and far filed accelerometers to evaluate the analyses results at different seismic states. The results of numerical analyses indicated the good performance of propose pseudo elliptical yielding damper in terms of dissipating the earthquake energy entering the structure and reduction in the seismic responses of retrofitted benchmark buildings by this type of dampers. It was found that on average, the maximum inter-story drift in the 3, 9 and 20 story benchmark buildings were reduced by 66, 69 and 67%, respectively.