LINEAR LED LIGHT SOURCE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a linear LED light source, comprising: providing a tubular glass envelope (20) that is open at its proximal end (21) and its distal end (22); inserting a light source mount assembly (10) comprising one or more LED units (12) into the tubular glass envelope (20); forming a distal hermetic seal (24) at the distal end (22) such that a distal opening (25) remains at the distal end (22); forming a proximal hermetic seal (27) at the proximal end (21) such that a proximal opening (28) remains at the proximal end (21); filling the tubular glass envelope (20) with a gas filling (18); and sealing the distal and proximal openings (25, 28) to obtain a sealed lamp envelope (11); wherein a flow of coolant gas (29) through the tubular glass envelope (20) is maintained during the formation of the proximal hermetic seal (27) and/or distal hermetic seal (24) if the light source mount assembly (10) is inserted before the formation of the respective hermetic seal (24, 27). The present invention also provides a linear LED light source, comprising: a sealed lamp envelope (11); and a light source mount assembly (10) with one or more LED units (12) arranged inside the sealed lamp envelope (11); wherein the sealed lamp envelope (11) is of essentially cylindrical shape, and wherein the distance between a distal end (21) and/or proximal end (22) of the sealed lamp envelope (11) and the LED unit (12) nearest to said end (21, 22) of the sealed lamp envelope (11) is smaller than twice the diameter (d) of the sealed lamp envelope (11).