Systems and methods for measuring downhole fluid characteristics in drilling fluids

A method, comprising:

• containing a fluid within a flow path, the fluid including at least one component present therein;
• moving an optical computing device along a detection path as coupled to a movable housing, the optical computing device including at least one integrated computational element (ICE);
• optically interacting the at least one ICE with the at least one component along the detection path and thereby detecting;
• determining the characteristic of the at least one component with the at least one optical computing device;
• and
• generating an output signal corresponding to the characteristic of the at least one component,
• wherein the characteristic of the at least one component is selected from the group consisting of particle chord length, particle chord length distribution, particle morphology, particle shape, particle size, and particle size distribution of the at least one component within the fluid.

A method, comprising:

• containing a fluid within a flow path that provides a first monitoring location and a second monitoring location, the fluid having at least one component present therein;
• generating a first output signal corresponding to a characteristic of the at least one component at the first monitoring location with a first optical computing device, the first optical computing device being arranged on a first movable housing that moves the first optical computing device along a first detection path, and the first optical computing device having a first integrated computational element (ICE) that optically interacts with the fluid along the first detection path and conveys optically interacted light to a first detector which generates the first output signal;
• generating a second output signal corresponding to the characteristic at the second monitoring location with a second optical computing device, the second optical computing device being arranged on a second movable housing that moves the second optical computing device along a second detection path, and the second optical computing device having a second ICE that optically interacts with the fluid along the second detection path and conveys optically interacted light to a second detector which generates the second output signal;
• receiving the first and second output signals with a signal processor;
• and
• determining a difference between the first and second output signals with the signal processor,
• wherein the characteristic of the at least one component is at least one of a Particle chord length, a particle chord length distribution, a particle morphology, a particle shape, a particle size, and a particle size distribution of the at least one component within the fluid.